Thunderstorm decides first South Africa-England ODI

04 February 2016 - 02:44 By Telford Vice

When AB de Villiers launched Moeen Ali towards the cheap seats in Bloemfontein last night, South Africa needed 19 more runs off the last four balls of that 20th over to nose ahead of England on the Duckworth/Lewis equation in the first one-day international. At the crack of the bat Ben Stokes made a lunge towards where he hoped the ball would be in the instant before it sailed for six. It was, and the smack the ball made as it lodged in Stokes' hand was heard far beyond Bloem.With that, the match was de facto decided - even though it took a thunderstorm to make England winners by 39 runs.The game had the makings of a bracing contest, what with England making 399/9: their highest total against South Africa, their second highest in all their 660 ODIs, and the highest yet seen in an ODI in Bloemfontein.South Africa reached 250/5 in the 33.3 overs they faced before the rain came."It's not ideal, but England played the cricket today," De Villiers admitted.That said, there were reasons for South Africa to be cheerful.Top of the list was Quinton de Kock's career-best 138 not out - a wonderful example of how to make the best use of what Chris Morris, between innings, labelled "the goodness of the pitch" and England's mediocre bowling.Faf du Plessis's 55, meanwhile, was a welcome reminder of just how good a player he is.De Kock and Du Plessis put on 110 of 83 balls in a stand so solid it would have made supporters remember the good times."They hit us hard early on -- you don't get 399 if you don't bat well," was Morris's summing up of their innings, which featured a seamless 105 by Jos Buttler and half-centuries by Stokes, Alex Hales and Joe Root.South Africa bowled poorly, particularly with the new ball. England were 75/1 after 10 overs and cleared for take-off, even though the home side were just three runs behind at the same stage of their reply.It took a blitz of 4/20 in 18 balls at the end of the visitors' innings to keep them under 400.But it all depended on De Villiers. He failed, and so did South Africa...

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