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England captain Eoin Morgan is congratulated by his South African counterpart Quinton de Kock after the second T20 International at Boland Park in Paarl on November 29, 2020.
the Proteas they’re looking down the statistical barrel.
Unless they can regain a consolation win over England in Twenty20’s third and final international game in Newlands on Tuesday, Quinton de Kock’s team will become the first South African unit to be swept in a three-game T20 series.
Their record in series of that length has not been the greatest anyway: of the 18 already completed, they have won seven, making only 38.88 percent, and shared two, while losing nine.
But it would be a first for them in the course of three bilateral contests if it occurs.
They’re in that position because Eoin Morgan’s formidable cue ball tourists won the first two matches, in Newlands and Paarl respectively, despite being pushed hard each time by the cobweb-laden host nation.
The closest they have come before was in 2013/14 when Australia, under the leadership of George Bailey, won 2-0 on our shores with complete victories at Kingsmead and Centurion respectively after a failure of the first scheduled match in Port Elizabeth.
Paarl’s result on Sunday, which saw England come home over four wickets with a ball to spare in a low-scoring encounter, has already ensured that South Africa has lost three T20 bilateral series in a row for the first time.
They’ve all been home too – the top two came last summer, when they were beaten 2-1 each time by their current opponents and Australia.
The current situation, 0-2, is not helping to reinforce their modest position of fifth in the ICC T20 world rankings: England, who are in second place, on the contrary, are a short distance from the leading Australians in the table , a classification point. behind them.
South Africa have won just one of their last seven T20 internationals at Newlands, including the opener of Friday’s series against England, and none of the last three.
* Follow our editor-in-chief on Twitter: @RobHouwing
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