South Africa claim victory after England collapse in first one-day international
Jason Roy scored a vintage century to signal a welcome and overdue return to form but it wasn’t enough to prevent England losing a game they should have won comfortably when they went down by 27 runs to South Africa in the first of three ODIs at the Mangaung Oval on Friday night.
Sam Curran, with three for 35, led the way as England restricted the hosts to 298 for seven on a modestly two-paced but otherwise perfect batting surface and the run-chase was given the perfect start with Roy and Dawid Malan adding 146 for the first wicket.
Not for the first time England struggled against the pace of Anrich Nortje, who took four for 62, after seamer Sisanda Magala, who finished with three for 46, had taken vital early wickets and the world champions were bundled out for 271 having needed to score at less than five runs per over for the last 20 overs with seven wickets in hand.
“It was a game we should have won but these things happen in international cricket. Jason was exceptional and thoroughly deserved his success and Sam bowled beautifully,” England captain Jos Buttler said afterwards. “Jofra [Archer] sets very high standards for himself but our expectations of him are more realistic after such a long time out of the game. The fact he bowled 10 overs is a big step in his recovery.”
Roy concluded the only practice session England had before the game on Thursday with 20 minutes of ‘range-hitting’ which started with more toe-enders and miscues than sweet-spots but he finally started to find his groove. He made a flying start to the run chase and never looked back before departing for 113 from just 91 balls with 11 fours and four sixes.
The loss of three wickets for just six runs in two overs undid the work of the openers with