World Twenty20: England lack key innings, admits Stuart Broad

Stuart Broad admitted his side lacked a stand-out innings after England crashed out of the World Twenty20 following a three-run loss to South Africa.

South Africa captain AB De Villiers smashed 69 off 28 balls as the Proteas had a late surge of runs to post a testing target of 196-5 for Broad’s side.

We didn’t have that one stand-out innings you probably need chasing that high a total

Stuart Broad

England made a good start with Alex Hales, fresh from his 116 last Thursday, making 38 but the 2010 winners fell three runs short of South Africa’s tally.

“We’ve lost by three runs, but it was a fantastic game of cricket with nearly 400 runs scored in 40 overs, so you’ve got to give credit to the players,” Broad told BBC Sport.

“AB took the game away from us, he targeted that short boundary smartly. Apart from those three overs, I thought it was a pretty good game for us.

“But we didn’t have that one stand-out innings you probably need chasing that high a total. We’ve got to be fully on it against the Netherlands, that’s our focus now.”

De Villiers paid credit to England after South Africa booked their place in the World Twenty20 semi-finals.

“It was a great game. All credit to my team, and to England, who played a good game. Fortunately it was our day today,” De Villiers said.

“It was very tough, but I knew at the start it would be close at the end. It was important to mix things up, not be predictable, especially with the short boundary.

“I’ve lost a few as captain in the T20 format, so it was important for me to give something back to Faf [du Plessis].”