Root the Hero in record England win

England chased down 230 in what is the second highest chase in T20 history to strengthen hopes of making the last four. 

After South Africa had helped themselves to 229-4 from their 20 overs, a Joe Root (83 from 44 balls) and Jason Roy (43 from 16 balls) inspired attack took England home with two balls to spare.

Quinton De Kock, Hashim Amla and JP Duminy all made half-centuries as SA racked up the second highest score in World T20 history, but it proved to not be enough against a fearless England XI.

After the devastating defeat to the West Indies on wednesday, the result shows the massive improvement of England's white-ball cricket in the past year and the quality of players they possess on the world stage.

After the bowling attack was pummeled to all parts of the Wankhede stadium, England's batsmen had to re-energize and focus on beating the task ahead.

Jason Roy set the fireworks going by driving the first ball of the innings for four over Kagiso Rabada's head and after three sixes over the leg-side, England were away. After being dropped first ball by Kyle Abbott off Dale Steyn, Alex Hales joined in and 44 were taken from the first two overs - a T20I record.

As England seemingly drifted through the middle overs, the loss of captain Eoin Morgan brought Jos Buttler and Joe Root together and the pair put on 75 in just six overs.

The brutal hitting continued despite Buttler being stumped and when Root fell, England required just 11 from 10 balls.

Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan brought the scores level but as Jordan was caught on the boundary and David Willey were run out, nerves visibly grew in the English dugout.

However Ali drove the ball down the ground to give England the win by 2 wickets.

Joe Root was named Man of the match and said: "We knew we just had to back the natural instincts and play good cricket shots. After the start we got, we couldn't have asked for better, it made the middle order a lot easier and put South Africa under pressure straight away."

In the post-match interviews England captain Eoin Morgan said: "I felt we had to play out of our skins and we did just that. There is a lot of talent in our group and the best way for us to play is how we did tonight. The freedom that we play with is the best solution for us. We had a lot of big chases in the last year, and Roy and Hales were both outstanding in the start we got."