[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

2nd Twenty20 International

The County Ground, Taunton

Where now for South Africa?  Wednesday's absolute mauling at the hands of England in the first T20I was simply one more humiliation in a summer which has so far seen them go, for the most part, from bad to worse on these green and pleasant shores.  Early wickets and overly cautious batting from de Villiers and Behardien summed up their travails at the crease, while some comedy fielding during the England innings suggested that all isn't well with the ball in hand either.

Still, they have two more matches in quick succession to turn the series around, the first of which comes at one of English cricket's most picturesque grounds; a traditionalist's venue which has nevertheless proved itself ideal for T20, with an enthusiastic local crowd to boot.  Short, tempting boundaries invite the batsman to have a crack at knocking the ball out of the ground and into the River Tone, and there are plenty of players in both teams capable of that feat; not least the hometown boy Jos Buttler, who'll be looking for a triumphant return to the ground where he started his career.  With little of real importance at stake, the changes will be rung all round: Mark Wood is now unavailable for England, and Liam Plunkett is the most likely go-to option as a replacement; after Mason Crane (the cricketing detective) was granted his maiden cap in the last match, Captain Morgan has a choice of which of the remaining new boys to blood in this one, between Malan, Curran, Overton and Livingstone.  For South Africa I'd imagine it's time to bring in Chris Morris, and there has to be a question mark over the ropey JJ Smuts, whose struggle for form culminated in a laughable golden duck on Wednesday night.

The forecast isn't quite so hot, and we'll have a lot of cloud cover rolling in off the Quantocks, but there's still the potential for some serious biffing in this one.  They like their runs down in Cyderabad, as evidenced by the 834 scored during the One-Day Cup quarter-final between Somerset and Notts, and whyever not?

Gi' yurzel' a gurt big point a zoider and settle down for a tasty one.

Play commences at 1700, 23rd June 2017