Cutters in the first over? Proteas attack willing to experiment to cage England batters

Whether his teammates follow suit is another question, but Lungi Ngidi won't be afraid to experiment in the Proteas attack's quest to topple a dangerous English batting order when their three-match ODI series commences in Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.

The world champions have continued to employ their highly aggressive and successful strategy of pursuing runs at all cost, a blueprint that went a long way towards securing a first World Cup title in 2019, though India's recent 50-over series victory over them has intriguingly revealed some chinks in the armour.

While England were merely undone by a stunning spell from Jasprit Bumrah in the opening match, the deciding encounter was characterised by the Indian bowlers fighting fire with fire.

Instead of focusing on containment, they struck at regular intervals, embodying the wisdom that wickets are the best way of stemming the flow of runs.

Bowling England out for 259 in the 46th over perfectly illustrated the approach.

Ngidi, entrusted with being South Africa's bowling spearhead in the absence of the rested Kagiso Rabada, has clearly been taking notes.

"I think the main thing is that batters are sort of used to bowlers just bowling one pace and being able to get into a momentum by freeing the arms up and hitting through the line," he said.

"I just think a cutter or a slow ball upfront does check that swing a bit and obviously stops that momentum so it's not just free flowing. 

"It's more of a mental game with batters, especially, if you can disguise it well, and you can hit a good length with it. It's not really a ball that you can get away.

"It's one ball that I have practised well, and I use it a lot, so I don't see why not use it in the powerplay if I can."    

Such thoughts