England way off the mark, says Morgan

Cape Town: World champions England were “way off the mark” in their heavy seven-wicket one-day international defeat by South Africa, said captain Eoin Morgan. Quinton de Kock hit 107 and Temba Bavuma 98 as the hosts chased down England’s 258-8 with 14 balls left.

The pair combined for a partnership of

173 and made the tourists’ under-strength attack look toothless in their first ODI since winning the World Cup.

England’s top order also failed, falling to 131-6 before Joe Denly’s 87.

Denly’s innings looked to have kept England in the game, but De Kock and Bavuma were ruthless where England’s batsmen were not.

De Kock was eventually bowled trying to slog-sweep Joe Root and Bavuma fell agonisingly short of a second ODI hundred when he was trapped lbw by a ball that skidded on from Chris Jordan.

Those wickets slowed South Africa’s victory push but they were always in control of the chase with Rassie van der Dussen scoring 38 not out.

“Right from the beginning of our innings, we struggled to adapt to the conditions,” Morgan told the Test Match Special podcast.

“We did our best to adapt but the skill level wasn’t there. We’ll identify the little reasons why we didn’t gel as a team today because if we play like that again, we’ll lose.”

England, who have rested a handful of their World Cup winners for this series, now trail 1-0 in the three-match contest and face the prospect of losing an ODI series for the first time in three years.

SCORECARD England 258-8 (50 overs): Denly 87, Woakes

40; Shamsi 3-38; South Africa 259-3 (47.4 overs): De Kock 107, Bavuma 98; South Africa won by seven wickets.