The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

South Africa vs England: Third ODI preview

England will be hoping to whitewash their ODI series against Australia. (AFP PHOTO / IAN KINGTON)
Expert
8th February, 2016
0

South Africa will try to keep their one-day international series alive against England when the teams meet in the third match at Centurion. Can the Proteas turn things around, or will England take the series with two matches still to play?

The English have had a wonderful tour of South Africa, taking the Test series in a canter, before going two-nil up in the ODI series.

South Africa meanwhile, are playing low on confidence and form, and find themselves in the position where a loss would see them go down in straight sets.

The first match in the series might have been rain affected, but it didn’t come soon enough to stop all of South Africa’s bowlers going at over seven runs per over, and England built the monster total of 9 for 399, which at one point looked like it could have been even more. At 3 for 227 off 30 overs, South Africa could have easily been chasing more than 420.

Jos Buttler led the efforts with the bat, scoring 105 from 76, while Ben Stokes (57 from 38), Alex Hales (57 from 47), Joe Root (52 from 58) and Jason Roy (48 from 30) all had helpful contributions.

South Africa then got 33.3 overs into their innings, before the match was ended due to rain. They reached 5 for 250, with Quinton De Kock scoring 138 not out from just 96 balls. The Duckworth-Lewis method though found them to be short of the final target.

AB de Villers told the media following the game that they were well and truly in a position to win, needing 150 runs from 16.3 overs.

The second match was a little more one-sided, as South Africa batted first. They only made 262 from their 50 overs, with De Villiers top scoring on 73. The pick of the bowlers was Reece Topley, with 4 for 50 from nine overs.

Advertisement

In reply, Alex Hales scored 99 as England passed the target five wickets down, and with 3.4 overs to spare.

Prediction
England have been firing on all cylinders this tour, expect them to clinch the series.

Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde

close