England skipper Eoin Morgan has criticised Lord’s wicket after England lost the third ODI against South Africa by seven wickets on Monday (May 29th).
The home side had an abysmal start, as they were six down on a score of 20 in five overs, with Kagiso Rabada doing the main damage. After the loss, skipper Morgan though put some harsh light on the turf provided said,
“I don’t think it was an ODI wicket. It makes it one-sided which I don’t think is good for anybody. There was a lot of live, green grass on the wicket. We saw the shots they played when they batted. We couldn’t play shots like that early this morning.”
Further, he stated that the toss handed the advantage to South Africa, who exploited the conditions to the very best to topple England’s top order. However, later, Jonny Bairstow along with David Willey and debutant Toby Roland –Jones held one end and helped England to put a score of 153,
“It was was disproportionately important (to win the toss) and went a long way towards deciding the game. To win or lose the game on the toss in a major tournament is hard to take. Any side batting first has the potential to lose the game. A lot of credit must go to South African bowlers. South Africa bowled beautifully. They did not give us anything to hit and if they did we managed to nick it,” he added.
Despite losing the game, England won the three matches ODI series by virtue of defeating the visiting side in the first two ODIs, to have a good preparation for the Champions Trophy.
It is also to be noted that England rested three of their key players for the dead rubber, as they called in Steven Finn, Tiby Rolland – Jones and Liam Dawson in place of the rested trio of Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes.
South African team cashed upon the absence of key players of England and went on to crush the hosts in the final ODI to register their first win on their three months long tour.
Meanwhile, the South African batsman Hashim Amla broke the record of Indian skipper Virat Kohli to become fastest ever player to score 7000 runs in ODI cricket.
England will kick off its Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh in the first game of the tournament on June 1, whereas, Proteas will face Sri Lanka in their opener at the Oval.