England in South Africa: Tourists win second T20 by two runs to level series

England held their nerve to level the series against South Africa with a thrilling two-run victory in the second Twenty20 international in Durban.

The hosts needed three off the last two balls to reach their target of 205, but Tom Curran dismissed Dwaine Pretorius and Bjorn Fortuin to secure the win.

Chris Jordan had seemingly put the total beyond South Africa’s reach with two wickets in consecutive balls before Rassie van der Dussen (43 not out) and Pretorius (25) fought back to leave their side needing 15 from the final over.

Pretorius hit a six and a four to put the Proteas on the brink, but Curran responded with a superb yorker to remove him lbw.

And then the England bowler bravely sent down a slower ball that Fortuin ramped to Adil Rashid at short fine leg, leaving the hosts agonisingly short on 202-7.

Moeen Ali’s sublime 39 off 11 balls and Ben Stokes’ fine unbeaten 47 off 30 balls had earlier propelled the tourists to 204-7 off their 20 overs.

Proteas captain Quinton de Kock hit a stunning 22-ball 65 to get his side’s chase off to a fantastic start before England pegged them back.

Having fluffed their lines to lose the first T20 by one run on Wednesday, England did not capitulate when South Africa roared back this time.

The series, level at 1-1, concludes with the third T20 at Centurion on Sunday at 12:30 GMT.

Moeen and Stokes save stuttering England

England were stuttering at 125-5 in 16th over following the tame dismissals of Eoin Morgan and Joe Denly, before Moeen and then Stokes propelled them to an imposing total.

Moeen hit three fours and four sixes in a stunning knock, including an astonishing square drive over point into the stands, before he finally picked out Temba Bavuma at long on.

That gave Stokes the impetus to kick on, the all-rounder peppering the boundaries down the ground and over mid-wicket as well as running well to ensure the tourists added a vital 79 runs off the last five overs.

Before Moeen and Stokes, England’s innings posed more questions about whether they are using their batsmen in the right order.

Jos Buttler, who nicked behind for two, has hit his two highest T20 scores for England opening the batting and performed brilliantly there in the IPL, but does him opening cost England too much by losing their best finisher?

England are not short of top-order talent – one-day openers Jason Roy (40) and Jonny Bairstow (35) again starred in a second-wicket stand of 52, while Dawid Malan, Tom Banton and Alex Hales are other strong options.

Denly struggled in an unfamiliar position at six as he was bowled off his arm miscuing a pull shot, while Moeen has an excellent record hitting spin in the middle overs but again faced only seam bowling after coming in at seven.

England have so many innovative, destructive batsmen they could well win games whatever order they play in but it feels like this line-up needs fine-tuning before the T20 World Cup starts in Australia in October.

More to follow.