Standing in his 100th ODI as South Africa captain, AB de Villiers won yet another toss and asked England to bat first, in the third and final One-Day International (ODI) at Lord’s. In all there were six changes between both sides with a debut handed to Toby Rolland-Jones for England. Overcast conditions helped South African bowlers to wreck havoc on English top-order from the word go. It was the bowling pair of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell which dismantled batsmen one after the other. It was only Jonny Bairstow, Roland-Jones and David Willey who kept England in play. The troika added 108 runs together that saw England end on 153 all out in 31.1 overs.LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: England vs South Africa, 3rd ODI
The procession started with in the very first over. Jason Roy, after hitting Rabada for a four on the previous delivery, went for a drive but ended up giving Hashim Amla his first catch of the day at first slip. The second wicket came in the form Joe Root, who was struck on his pads while playing across the line against Parnell. The ball moved into the batsman dangerously, and hit him on the back leg right in the front of the middle stump.
Rabada continued to nab wickets, with Alex Hales becoming his second victim. Hales, guilty of playing away from his body, handed Amla his second catch, for 1. Fresh from dancing in the towel celebrating his IPL team’s title win, Jos Buttler’s dismissal was identical to his teammates.
Rabada continued to make the ball dance on his tunes that saw Buttler play a wrong shot giving Faf du Plessis a simple catch at second slip.
Rabada picked his fourth wicket in the form of Adil Rashid. Rashid, much like Hales, Buttler and Morgan lashed outside the off stump and fell for a first-ball duck. With pace bowling in full exhibition, de Villiers called in Keshav Maharaj to bowl in the 11th over.
It was only the pair of Jonny Bairstow and David Willey that showed some resilience in the middle with England reeling at 20 for 6. This was England’s lowest ever score for the loss of 6 wickets in an ODI and seventh overall.
Bairstow, being the last recognised batsman, along with Willey ensured England got past Zimbabwe’s lowest ever ODI score of 36. The pair added 62 runs for the sixth wicket before Willey was caught at covers by JP Duminy for a 39-ball 26.
Toby, making his ODI debut, came out with clear intent and took on the African bowling. The pair of Toby and Bairstow added 52 runs in no time. Bairstow secured his fifth ODI half-century in 63 balls. Bairstow departed soon trying to hit Maharaj down the ground. Dancing in front of the wicket, Bairstow was beaten by pace that saw him get stumped for 51.
Jake Ball, coming in at No. 9, added just 7 before he was bowled by Maharaj off a bottom edge. Toby continued his staunch confrontation that helped England past the 150-run mark.
Maharaj soon picked up his third wicket in the form of Toby who perished for 37 off 37, thus ending England’s innings on 153; their lowest at Lord’s and second lowest versus South Africa at home.
Earlier in the day, after winning his eighth straight toss, de Villers announced two changes in their playing XI. Morne Morkel and JP Duminy were drafted in place of Farhaan Behardein and Imran Tahir, who is unwell. It was the first time Morkel was playing an ODI after June 2016.
England, on the flip side announced as many as four changes in their side. Roland-Jones, who came in for Mark Wood was joined by David Willey, Jonathan Bairstow and Steven Finn. Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes were rested as announced by ECB last evening.
Brief scores:
England 153 in 31.1 overs (Jonny Bairstow 51, David Willey 26 ; Kagiso Rabada 4 for 39) vs South Africa.
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