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24th over: South Africa 147-3 (Markram 30, Klaasen 22) Klaasen heaves a pull for four, the first boundary Curran has conceded in three overs. He looks dangerous and has sped to 22 from 20 balls. South Africa are right in this game.
In other news, India have just walloped New Zealand by 168 runs – in a T20.
“Can’t help but feel that England with a patched-up side going into this series have suffered, in terms of results by a lack of warm-up games,” says Peter Rowntree. “As so often happens now in modern international series the tourists go into their games with no match practice before.
“Having said that I respect that this was a revised schedule series due to Covid and schedules are very busy these days. However, even a seasoned international pro like ‘Smudger’ has signed on for a few games with Sussex before the upcoming Ashes series, and I respect him for that.”
I suspect 99.94 per cent of cricket fans would agree with you, but warm-up games, like empathy and 174-ball half-centuries, belong to a quaint past.
23rd over: South Africa 139-3 (Markram 28, Klaasen 17) Markram is beaten trying to sweep a lovely delivery, but South Africa score off every other delivery. They have played Rashid well, scoring at six an over without taking many big risks; his figures are 6-0-34-1.
22nd over: South Africa 133-3 (Markram 24, Klaasen 15) Klaasen looks full of intent, bat raised like Graham Gooch in his no-nonsense pomp. Curran beats him with a short slower ball, and it’s a boundaryless over – six from it.
21st over: South Africa 127-3 (Markram 23, Klaasen 11) Excellent stuff from Klaasen, who belts consecutively deliveries from Rashid over midwicket for four and then two.
“Surely the England line-up for the World Cup,” begins Ian Copestake, “will feature one or two Chelsea players?”
20th over: South Africa 118-3 (Markram 22, Klaasen 3) South Africa are miles ahead on the comparison, such was England’s difficult start. Curran goes away the wicket to the new batter Heinrich Klaasen, who cuffs a pull that is half stopped by the sprawling Moeen at midwicket. That saved at least one run, maybe three, and there are only three singles from the over. South Africa need 229 from 180 balls.
Talking of Curran, here’s a lovely piece about two other white ball-leaning brothers who played for England and Surrey.
19th over: South Africa 115-3 (Markram 21, Klaasen 1) Though that was a fortunate wicket, Rashid has been England’s most threatening bowler. Later in the over Markram is surprised by a delivery that pops from the pitch and hits high on the bat.
WICKET! South Africa 112-3 (Hendricks b Rashid 52)
What an odd dismissal. Hendricks, moving outside leg stump, misses a routine work to leg at a ball that hits the inside of his left knee before deflecting between his legs and onto the stumps.
18th over: South Africa 110-2 (Hendricks 51, Markram 18) Sam Curran bustles in, his bowling face resembling that of an affronted gremlin, and it doesn’t improve any when Hendricks times a boundary through backward point. A single off the next ball takes him to a calm, well-placed fifty from 58 balls. He’s scored 36 from his 28 deliveries.
A decent over from South Africa becomes a terrific one when Markram lifts Curran high over midwicket for six. Fourteen from the over, and that’s drinks.
17th over: South Africa 92-2 (Hendricks 45, Markram 10) South Africa are taking few risks against Rashid at this stage, and he’s able to hurry through another over at a cost of just four. The required rate has moved up to 7.6 per over; nothing to worry about yet.
“Is it too early to discuss World Cup line ups for the first game in India?” says Will Juba. “Assuming not (why have a game that lasts so long if not so you can pontificate from so far out), here’s my proposal:
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Malan (despite Roy’s century the other day, I think he’s lost some of his magic and, even though he’s always been ‘hit and miss’ I think his hits are in severe decline)
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Bairstow (if recovered – Jacks as a bolter if not, partly for his spin option)
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Root
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Brook
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Buttler (c +)
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Stokes (assuming he comes out of retirement – he will, won’t he?! If not Livingstone)
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Moeen
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Curran (feels harsh on Woakes – whom I love – but he’s not quite as strong as Archer, lacks Wood’s pace, and doesn’t quite have the ‘something about him’ magic of Curran)
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Rashid
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Archer
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Wood
“You’ve then got Roy, Duckett (who you’d think would be ideal for Indian surfaces), Woakes, Topley and … Dawson (he’ll be reserve option until 2078 I’d have thought) as your backup squad members. Thoughts?”
I agree with most of that. I’m not sure about Malan in India, though he continues to confound us all and I’d have him slightly ahead of Roy at this stage. My main concern with your XI is that there aren’t enough new-ball bowlers. I’d say the only near-certainties for the team are Bairstow, Root, Buttler, Livingstone, Rashid and Wood.
If Stokes does come out of retirement, and I don’t think he will, I suspect he’ll be in competition with Brook rather than Livingstone. But Stokes aside I think your squad is about right, with maybe Jacks for one of the openers depending on how the next few months go. That said, a million things will change between now and then.
16th over: South Africa 92-2 (Hendricks 42, Markram 9) A quiet first over from Sam Curran, five singles from it. I say ‘quiet’, I didn’t see a ball as I was trying to prepare an email for the next over. But the commentators didn’t raise their voice, and that’s good enough for me.
15th over: South Africa 87-2 (Hendricks 39, Markram 7) Hendricks creams a flighted delivery from Rashid over extra cover for four, then edges just wide of the diving Moeen at slip for two. Rashid looks a threat.
14th over: South Africa 79-2 (Hendricks 32, Markram 6) There’s plenty of batting to come, not least the marvellous David Miller, but England will be thrilled to have removed South Africa’s two centurions in this series.
That said, Hendricks is playing well after a cautious start. He crunches a full ball from Archer whence it came for four, then smokes a pull stroke to the fence at midwicket.
Incidentally, we’ve just seen a graphic that says Archer’s average speed today is around 86.5mph. In the circumstances – two years out of international cricket, serious elbow and back injuries – that’s pretty good.
13th over: South Africa 68-2 (Hendricks 22, Markram 5) Adil Rashid is into the attack. His second ball is a perfect legspinner – perfect, I tell you – that rips past Hendricks’ tenative defensive stroke. Markram edges short of slip later in the over, so that’s a pretty encouraging start for Rashid. Two from the over.
12th over: South Africa 66-2 (Hendricks 21, Markram 4) This is Jofra Archer! Markram’s first ball is a zippy bouncer that rams into the shoulder as Markram takes evasive action.
Markram’s response is pretty glorious, though, a textbook on-drive for four next ball. Shot! “Goodness he’s got an opportunity here to get a hundred,” says KP, which is either a) an absurd comment about a man who has faced two balls or b) an insight into the mind of a ravenous genius. I’m going with b).
WICKET! South Africa 62-2 (van der Dussen c Roy b Archer 5)
We haven’t seen a speedgun reading, but Archer’s pace looks to be around mid-to-high 80s mph. That feeling is reinforced by the relative comfort with which Hendricks can sway out of the way of a very accurate bouncer.
Whatever Archer’s pace, he has just taken a vital wicket! Van der Dussen slices a drive to backward point, where Roy swoops to his left to take a terrific two-handed catch.
11th over: South Africa 60-1 (Hendricks 20, van der Dussen 4) Woakes continues. His length has been more consistent in the last few overs, and he’s bowling plenty of slower balls. Five singles from the over.
10th over: South Africa 55-1 (Hendricks 18, van der Dussen 1) The new batter Rassie van der Dussen, whose ODI average has dropped to 69.75 in recent times. Dropped to 69.75, I ask you. He gets off the mark with a single off Archer, who bowls five good balls… and then drops short and is clubbed through the covers for four by Hendricks.
9th over: South Africa 49-1 (Hendricks 12, van der Dussen 0) That was a good over from Woakes – four runs and a very welcome wicket.
WICKET! South Africa 49-1 (Bavuma c Topley b Woakes 35)
A really important wicket for England. The dangerous Bavuma is duped by a slower ball from Woakes and loops a drive to mid-off. He goes for 35 from 27 balls.
8th over: South Africa 45-0 (Bavuma 32, Hendricks 12) Jofra Archer replaces Reece Topley, whose opening spell of 3-0-19-0 has just been dismissed as “throwdowns” by Kevin Pietersen on Sky Sports.
Hendricks slugs a short ball for two, then swivel-pulls just short of the fielder at long leg. A decent start for Archer, albeit without much zing off the pitch.
7th over: South Africa 41-0 (Bavuma 31, Hendricks 9) Now Hendricks gets his first boundary, pinging Woakes through extra cover. This looks like hard yakka for England, with the early movement (and there wasn’t much of that) long gone. It’ll be interesting to see what Jofra can do when he comes on.
Bavuma ends another good over for South Africa by walloping Woakes’s slower ball to the cover fence. Not sure I’ve ever seen Bavuma back with such destructive certainty as he has in this series.
6th over: South Africa 32-0 (Bavuma 27, Hendricks 4) Bavuma continues to eat into the target with another high-class boundary, timed through the covers off Topley. He has 27 from 19 balls, Hendricks 4 from 17.
“Most wickets since 2019,” says Will Juba. “Is it David Wiley, sure he had some good figures in the series against Ireland and as he was described by one of the OBOers this series, he’s England’s ’great survivor’.”
You betcha – 32 wickets at 23, including a five-for against Ireland.
5th over: South Africa 24-0 (Bavuma 22, Hendricks 1) A maiden from Woakes to Hendricks, who is taking his time in an attempt to make the most of this rare opportunity.
The ball is coming on to the bat nicely, and – as on Sunday – this was a handy toss to win for South Africa. At this stage England were 12 for two, and they were about to be 14 for three.
4th over: South Africa 24-0 (Bavuma 22, Hendricks 1) Hendricks gets off the mark from his eighth delivery, clipping Topley for a single. He doesn’t need to hurry because Bavuma is batting like a dream. A sweetly timed push through point brings him four more, and then he punches a low full toss to the extra cover boundary. Bavuma has 22 from 16 balls; England need to remove the asterisk against his name quicksmart.
3rd over: South Africa 15-0 (Bavuma 14, Hendricks 0) Woakes drops a fraction short, and Bavuma flattens him over midwicket for six. That made such a sweet sound off the bat, a 7.3 on the Pontingometer. Bavuma gets four more off the last ball, flicking some leg-stump nonsense through midwicket.
“Adil Rashid?” says John Starbuck, responding to the question about who has most ODI wickets for England since the last World Cup. “On the grounds of not the most likely but usually in the side.”
Stephen Brown also suggested Rashid. The logic is sound, as only Moeen Ali and Jason Roy have played more ODIs in that period. But Rashid is second on the list with 29 wickets at an average of 40.
2nd over: South Africa 5-0 (Bavuma 4, Hendricks 0) Reece Topley shares the new ball. He had a brilliant 2022 in ODI cricket – 13 wickets at 16, including England’s best ODI figures – but started this year by going for 74 from nine overs at Bloemfontein.
His first over here is promising, with a hint of inswinging to the right-handers. Hendricks digs out a yorker, and there are only two runs – one off the bat, one for a leg-side wide.
1st over: South Africa 3-0 (Bavuma 3, Hendricks 0) A decent start from Woakes. Bavuma gets going with a cover drive for three off the second delivery – it would have been four but for some fine fielding by Archer – but then the recalled Reeza Hendricks is beaten by a beauty first ball.
Right, the players are back out on the field. Temba Bavuma has a bat, Chris Woakes has a ball. What happens next?
Quiz question (no cheating) Who has taken the most ODI wickets for England since the 2019 World Cup? The first person to email the correct answer wins an ephemeral and arguably misplaced surge of pride.
“Do you have any idea of England’s best bowling line-up?” asks Brendan Large. “I feel like the one today isn’t far off; whatever, they definitely need to start backing up the batters. I didn’t see the game on Sunday but seemed like a pretty weak defence of that total.”
If the first game of the World Cup was tomorrow, I think the attack would be something like: Archer, Topley, Wood, Rashid, Moeen or Curran and then Livingstone and the other occasional spinners. But I haven’t really thought about it, never mind looked at the data. And so much will change between now and October, not least because the three main quick bowlers all have injury issues.
Thanks Tanya, afternoon everyone. The good news for England is that, in 52 years of ODI cricket, they have only once failed to defend a target of 347; the bad news is that South Africa scored 347 (chasing 342) at Bloemfontein on Sunday. We’ll see. No point pretending any of us have a clue what’s going to happen. Nobody’s fooling anybody.
An awesome haul-back by England, after a sticky start on a tricky surface. Pitch perfect batting from Malan and Buttler, who didn’t panic, just worked through the difficult stuff then put their feet down. Excellent bowling by South Africa in the first ten ..
Thoughts from Dawid Malan in the break: “I felt so far behind the game I chanced my arm slightly early and got away with a few. Got a bit of momentum and then when Jos gets going it’s hard to stop him.”
The masterly Rob Smyth will take you through South Africa’s chase, thanks for all the messages. Bye!
England 346-7 (having been 20-3 off the first ten)
50th over: England 346-7 (Woakes 9, Adil Rashid 11) Magala is handed the final six balls. A full toss is rightfully wanged round the corner by Rashid for six onto the roof. No more boundaries but 14 pocketed from the over – including a non existent two off the final ball which is helped along by some sloppy fielding. Amazing acceleration there by England after a tricky first 15 where they trudged about in quicksand.
49th over: England 332-7 (Woakes 2, Adil Rashid 5) Ngidi at last gets some light relief, bowling at the new boys. Took a bit of welly in the second half of his spell, but was outstanding with the new ball. 4-62 from his ten.
48th over: England 328-7 (Woakes 2, Adil Rashid 1) Can the two new batters take England up to 350?
WICKET! S Curran b Jansen 11 (England 326-7)
A double wicket over for Jansen as he sends Curran on his way, crashing into his off stump.
WICKET! Buttler c Markram b Jansen 131 (England 315-6)
Taken down on his knees at long on by Markram after a welly too many, to the delight of some little boys in the crowd. The end of a sensational innings.
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