Alex Hales and Jos Buttler combined with a classic one-two to floor South Africa and give England a commanding 2-0 series lead, writes Dean Wilson in Port Elizabeth.
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Former England all-rounder Ian Botham has backed his country’s players to win the ongoing five-match ODI series against South Africa by a margin of 5-0.
Hosts South Africa on the other hand decided to make two changes to their bowling attack as they bought back Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbot in place of Marchant de Lange and Chris Morris.
It is a different story 15 games later, for they can lay claim to being the most aggressive opening partnership England have had in one-day cricket.
At some point in the second ODI between South Africa and England in Port Elizabeth, the bang of the hammer at the Indian Premier League auction is bound to intrude.
Rossouw “yorked” himself by coming down the wicket to Topley, and the ball squeezed past his inside edge. Soon, de Villiers brought up his fifty in 72 deliveries and went on to post a 107-run stand with Duminy.
“You never really know what a good score is, but certainly we were very happy with [limiting South Africa to] 260”, Morgan added.
South Africa’s apparent plan to back-load the last 10 overs was looking shaky, with two new men at the crease.
The second ODI in this five-match series couldn’t have been further removed from the first.
No other batsman on either side came to terms with the sticky St George’s Park pitch as well as Buttler whose 48 from just 28 balls, including three successive sixes off Imran Tahir, was demoralising for the Proteas.
However South Africa started their innings slowly and lost Hashim Amla early.
England captain Charlotte Edwards (33) was bowled by Marcia Letsoalo (1/20) after the delay, but Taylor’s unbeaten 41 and Knight (26) took the visitors home following a second delay that lasted just under anhour.
De Villiers said on Saturday: “England are a good side”.
For Hales, though, that maiden Test series was decidedly patchy – containing just one half-century in eight innings, and six scores under 20.
De Villiers top scored with 73 before he was brilliantly caught by Chris Jordan and Duminy followed in the next over. Morris is probably the better choice; he’s a more reliable bowler and has shown in the recent Test series that he does offer something with the bat.
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Lightning and rain interrupted play on more than one occasion in Benoni which saw England’s target reduced to 150 off 35 overs, an easy task with a number of South Africa’s bowlers still rusty, having not played competitive cricket since November past year.
