It was a sweet debut for George Linde but a bitter outing for the Proteas as they lost to England by 5 wickets at Six Gun Grill Newlands in the 1st KFC T20I, writes Khalid Mohidin.
Faf du Plessis was the star with the bat, as the Proteas scored 179/6 in their 20 overs, with the ex-Proteas skipper scoring a 40-ball 58.
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Despite the defeat, the Six Gun Grills Cobras man, Linde, was exceptional. He was in the action instantly. On the second ball of his first-ever over in T20I cricket, he floated one up and to the left of Jason Roy. The opener attempted a cut but instead snicked the ball to Quinton de Kock behind the stumps.
He conceded just one run in his opening over. The speedsters took over from there, and England got themselves some runs on the board, to take them to 26/1 by the end of the 4th over. Ngidi dismissed Jos Buttler to make it 27/2 and it was 32/2 by the end of the 5th over.
Linde came back into the attack and got another wicket on the third ball, this time bagging the wicket of the No 1 T20I batsman, Dawid Malan, who attempted to sweep a ball from outside off but instead found Kagiso Rabada at mid-wicket.
He also added a catch to his name at long-on, to hand Shamsi the wicket of Ben Stokes (37 off 27 balls).
Linde started off his debut with a handy 12 off 6 balls (1 six), with the bat, sending a nod of approval to selectors.
Beuran Hendricks, however, went for 28 runs in the 17th over which put pressure on the Proteas’ death bowlers.
Ngidi gave the Proteas a lifeline by dismissing Eoin Morgan (12 off 10) and taking England’s 5th for 159 runs, England needing 18 off 12 by the end of his over.
England, however, got comfortably over the line, Jonny Bairstow staring for England with a 48-ball 86 (9 fours, 4 sixes).
Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
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