South Africa thrash England to complete series win but Eoin Morgan insists his men can still win World Twenty20
England captain Eoin Morgan insists his team can win next month’s World Twenty20 despite suffering an emphatic nine-wicket loss to seal a 2-0 series defeat in South Africa on Sunday.
Proteas skipper AB de Villiers plundered 71 off 29 balls and fellow opener Hashim Amla 69 off 38 as the hosts raced to their target of 172 with more than five overs to spare at the Wanderers, Johannesburg.
Jos Buttler top-scored for the tourists with 54 off 38 but his dismissal prompted a feeble collapse that saw Morgan’s men lose their last seven wickets for just 14 runs.
Defeat in their final competitive fixture before the World T20 was a demoralising one for England, who begin the tournament in India on 16 March, but Morgan refused to be downhearted.
“It’s just a blip,” he said. “We’ve had such a good run of things in white-ball cricket. I honestly think we are on the right track playing a brand of cricket that can win an ICC event, whether it is this one coming up or one in 2017.”
There could yet be repercussions for England opener Jason Roy, who was pictured swinging his bat at a post in the player’s tunnel in anger after he departed for nine runs after just 15 balls.
England have now lost their last five matches in limited-overs cricket. They are scheduled to face New Zealand on 12 March in Mumbai and a local side two days later in their only remaining matches before the World T20.