South Africa v England ODIs, England faltered in Bloemfontein as South Africa dealt the first ODI series blow, cruising along at 0-146 in pursuit of 299. Despite Jason Roy’s brilliant 79-ball century, England’s batting collapse allowed a Rassie van der Dussen-inspired South Africa to win by an unexpected 27 runs on Jofra Archer’s international comeback.
South Africa vs England ODIs
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Roy has had a difficult run, but he scored 113 off 91 deliveries in the first of three One-Day Internationals against the Proteas in Bloemfontein on Friday, his first 50-plus score in 15 international innings. He put up 146 in 19.3 overs with fellow opener Dawid Malan, who scored 59 off 55 balls, but England faltered after that in a 299-run chase, being bowled for 271 in 44.2 overs. Only skipper Jos Buttler (36) reached 20 for the visitors on an easy-paced field, with Anrich Nortje taking 4-62 and Sisanda Magala taking a crucial three-wicket haul.
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South Africa started 7-298, with van der Dussen hitting 111 off 117 balls, but Sam Curran halted their progress on many occasions, finishing with 3-35 from nine overs. “We’re disappointed,” Buttler told Sky Sports. For the most part, I believe we played fantastic cricket. “To be in a situation where we believe we should go on and win the game after that opening stand, we’re understandably unhappy not to finish it off.” Archer had a difficult day in Bloemfontein, toiling in the 30-degree heat for little benefit in his first England international in over two years.
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He went through 10 overs, which was encouraging, but he finished up with 1-81, the highest number of runs are given in a limited-overs international. Archer says he is “around 80%” fit, so some rust was unavoidable – and he let up 20 runs in one awful nine-ball over before his session ended on a lighter note with Wayne Parnell’s wicket. His day ended on a sour note, though, as he was disqualified for a four-ball duck. Archer did operate at 140 kmh, peaking out at 143 kmh, and his performance was no problem for the two world champs.
Roy had averaged 12.5 in the South African Twenty20 this month, but he seemed in fantastic shape from the minute he clipped his third ball for four. Malan mistimed a pull-off Magala, resulting in a mini-collapse from 0-146 to 3-152 as Ben Duckett and ODI rookie Harry Brook were run out for cheap. Roy hit three figures after pulling Nortje for his 11th four and blasting Tabraiz Shamsi for his fourth six. He stepped out, intending to clear the boundary with a pull-off Kagiso Rabada.
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Captain Buttler struggled after being hit by a Magala bumper early on, but his dismissal, nicking off to Nortje, came after Moeen Ali had handed Magala his third wicket by pulling to deep midwicket, giving South Africa new energy. Nortje dismissed David Willey and Archer, with Rabada removing the edge of Curran’s bat before Shamsi caught and bowled last man Olly Stone, sparking wild celebrations.Earlier, van der Dussen drove Archer for back-to-back fours on his way to an understated 110-ball tonne.
In the last over, he shattered the shackles of an Archer free hit with a ferocious heave for six, while the England spinner tossed in a wide and another no-ball. Curran kept the damage to under 300, catching Van der Dussen for 111 and David Miller for 53 on deep catches.
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