WORLDS APART
Rusty champions are given a brutal reality check
IT WAS back to earth with a bump for England as South Africa put Eoin Morgan’s world champions on their backsides at Newlands.
In their first 50-over outing since the impossible drama of Lord’s last July, England looked rusty and jaded.
Put in by Quinton de Kock, they laboured to a below-par 258-8 and had no answers as the hosts knocked them off comfortably to win by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare. This poor performance had the feel of how England used to be before they became the best one-day team on the planet.
It was a first competitive outing in blue for more than six months and one without half a dozen of the stars who dragged them over the line in July. There was no Ben Stokes, no Jos Buttler, no express pace with Jofra
Archer injured and Mark Wood rested and there was no Adil Rashid.
What there was, though, was a lack of combativeness in all three aspects of a performance that was ill-befitting their status as top dogs and which needs to be addressed before the next game in Durban on Friday.
On a pitch that looked twopaced – something South Africa captain De Kock realised at the toss surprisingly putting England in – Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow struggled to get off to their customary flier. Both were undone by poor timing and when Joe Root ran himself out and Morgan edged to slip, England were in bother.
Joe Denly came to the rescue with a 103-ball 87 that was not exactly electric. Yet it was hard to criticise when wickets kept
Durban as they attempt to square the series.
“We were way off the mark. We’ve got no excuses, we didn’t adapt to the conditions in front of us and South Africa outplayed us in all three departments,” said World Cup-winning captain Morgan. “Every batsman apart from Joe Denly and Chris Woakes struggled to get going. We lacked the adaptation and skill level which was needed.”
England, who were missing six of their big guns from the World Cup win, gave ODI debuts to batsman Tom Banton and leg-spinner Matt Parkinson.
And Morgan looks set to give them another spin on Friday in the second ODI of three. “This series is about giving guys experience and giving them an opportunity,” he said. “The new boys will learn a lot – the guys making their debut have a taste of international cricket.” falling at the other end. And it was not Denly’s fault that 258 looked about 50 runs short.
Morgan had talked about resetting their sights on T20 goals, notably the World T20 in Australia in October, insisting results were less important than visible progress.Yet it was hard to see much of the latter in this.
Of England’s new caps, Tom Banton timed a couple nicely in his 18, while leg-spinner Matt Parkinson struggled initially before coming back stronger late in the day.
It was the partnership of 173 by De Kock (107) and Temba Bavuma (98) – a record for the second wicket against England and here at Newlands – that proved the difference.
If England make changes to this line-up it smacks of panic, which should ensure the same XI get a run in Durban. But the performance needs to be markedly superior.