Morgan offers no excuses as England fall to heavy defeat in Cape Town
● De Kock and Bavuma shine with the bat for South Africa in ODI series opener
South Africa pair Quinton De Kock and Temba Bavuma combined to hand England a sobering seven-wicket defeat in their first one-day international since being crowned world champions.
Unlike the unforgettable World Cup final at Lord’s six months ago, there was precious little drama in this series opener as a 173-run stand between De Kock and Bavuma broke the back of a record runchase of 259 at Cape Town.
De Kock marked his first match since succeeding Faf Du Plessis as ODI captain with 107 from 113 balls and while Bavuma fell for 98, their efforts helped to overhaul England’s 258 for eight with 14 balls to spare.
England’s total was underwhelming given their extraordinary feats with the bat in recent years, but they were indebted to Joe Denly’s industrious 87 off 103 balls after they had collapsed from 51 without loss to 131 for six. The decision to choose Denly, 33, for a series which marks the start of the next World Cup cycle was questioned in some quarters but he vindicated his selection after Tabraiz Shamsi’s three for 38 left England reeling.
The left-arm wrist-spinner exploited a slow pitch that offered turn and a little bounce, and among his victims was Tom Banton, one of two ODI debutants for England at the start of this threematch series, alongside Matt Parkinson.
Banton made it to double figures, as did the rest of England’s top six, but only Denly was able to offer anything tangible and their efforts were put in a harsh light by De Kock and Bavuma.
While Chris Woakes made an early breakthrough on his 100th ODI appearance, England’s seamers found little joy in taking pace off the ball – as their South African counterparts had done – and the decision not to include either Adil
Rashid or Moeen Ali alongside fellow spinner Parkinson came back to haunt them.
England skipper Eoin Morgan offered no excuses for the defeat. Speaking at the postmatch presentation, he said: “We were way off the mark.
“South Africa completely outplayed us in all departments. We’ve got no excuses, we didn’t adapt to conditions. Every batsman apart from Joe Denly and Chris Woakes failed to get going. Full credit to them, they’ve started the series very well. We lacked the adaptation to the skill level that was needed. We lost wickets in clusters, up until that Woakes and Denly partnership.
“Having let the guys get themselves in, it was a struggle to get things back.”
Southafricacaptaindekock hailed his inexperienced side’s display. He said: “It was a good night. Just glad to get a win under our belts. It feels good to get back to winning ways. This week, we chatted about how we want to take this ODI team going forward. Really proud of the boys, it’s one thing speaking about it and another bringing it out onto the field.”