England v South Africa, 1st ODI, Review: England Overwhelm South Africa in Spectacular Fashion

May 25, 2017 at 1:29 PM

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England v South Africa, 1st ODI, Review: England Overwhelm South Africa in Spectacular Fashion

England came out all guns blazing to easily overpowered South Africa’s mighty run-chase to register a satisfying 72-run victory in the opening game of the 3- Match bilateral series.

The opening game at Headingley was touted as an acid test for England’s ruthless ODI reputation developed in the last couple of years.

However, the hosts felt no heat at all and easily knocked off the determined Proteas side.

AB de Villiers started off the match with an error that eventually cost him the game. The decision to bowl first, on a wicket that had a string of high-scoring domestic ODI games in the recent past, spoke for the negligence of facts.

Things could have still fallen in favour of the visitors had they managed to find a way to stop the marauding duo of Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali who hit the bowlers all around the park in the latter stages of the first innings to ensure England made most of the opportunity and post a healthy 339/6 in 50 overs.

South Africa faced crucial slip-ups in the first innings that led to their downfalls. The first being the inability to gain leverage of the early advantage provided by Wayne Parnell who removed Jason Roy for just one run in the 2nd over. Alex Hales (61 from 60 deliveries) and Joe Root (37 from 51 balls) batted as calmly as possible and added 98 for the 2nd wicket to make the early loss unaccountable for the batting side.

Rabada and Morris snapped two quick wickets, removing Stokes and Buttler, respectively in the middle overs to suddenly leave England at 198/5 after 34.1 overs. However, Morgan, who was well settled by that stage, along with Moeen Ali switched on the recovery mode in ballistic style. The duo added 117 runs in just 13.3 overs to put the team’s total past the 300 runs mark and set a challenging target for the visitors to chase.

During the chase, South Africa’s efforts were disrupted by Chris Woakes (4/38). The seamer led the bowling charge and along with leg-spinner Adil Rashid (2/69) and seamers Mark Wood (1/49) and Liam Plunkett (1/42) ensured the target was defended by restricting South Africa’s middle order, which could not spring any surprise after the top order men provided a good platform to nail the target.

The Proteas began in almost identical fashion, losing their opener, Quinton de Kock (5) early before Hashim Amla and Faf Du Plessis added 112 runs together to set the tone for the stage. But, that was the only good partnership the South Africans had and the downfall quickly began after both the set batsmen walked out one after another. Amla (73 from 76 balls) was the first to go in in the 25th over off Mark Wood’s bowling and was shortly followed by Du Plessis (67 from 61 balls) who lost his wicket to Plunkett.

The middle order failed to continue the chase, as England kept snapping wicket at regular intervals. Spinners Ali (who he looked like the ‘mini-me’ version of Amla) and Rashid took care of the core of the batting order before Woakes cleaned up the tail and restricted South Africa for just 267 in 45 overs.

Brief Scores

England – 339/6 in 50 overs (Eoin Morgan 107; Andile Phelukwayo 2/59)

South Africa – 267 all out (Hashim Amla 73; Chris Woakes 4/38)

Man of the Match: Moeen Ali

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