Johannesburg — It may not be in the realm of Nasser Hussain in Brisbane in 2002, or Ricky Ponting at Edgbaston in 2005, but time will not look kindly on Sune Luus’s decision upon winning the toss and choosing to bowl in the final One-Day International against England on Monday.
With England in the midst of a heatwave, and the temperature gauges nudging 40 degrees celsius, the home team’s players were ecstatic to avoid the worst of the heat at Grace Road in Leicester. It was so toasty an extra drinks break was added. With no movement off the surface, or through the air, South Africa’s much vaunted pace bowlers had little to work with, and in fact it was another poor day for the Proteas seamers.
Perhaps a combination of the heat, and the slight incline at one end, saw them dish up an extra 17 deliveries through wides and no balls.
There were dreadful errors in the field including two dropped catches and a missed run out in the 20th over. It would have been easy to blame it all on the tension within the camp caused by the drama that blew up regarding Lizelle Lee’s retirement (https://bit.ly/3aQ700W). It’s also been a long tour already and there is still plenty more to come.
England’s openers, Emma Lamb and Tammy Beaumont, who benefited from those missed opportunities in the 20th over, shared their second century partnership in a row putting on 149. Lamb went passed 50 for the third match in a row, having turned the first of those into a hundred at Northampton last week.
Beaumont bashed her way to a ninth ODI century, her fourth against South Africa, as England dominated. There was another half-century for Sophia Dunkley, while skipper Heather Knight added 63 off just 49 balls, as England registered their fifth highest ODI total. Ayabonga Khaka was the the most successful bowler for the tourists, taking 2/64, although left-arm spinners Chloe Tryon (0/58) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (1/68), provided some control through the middle period.
Laura Wolvaardt (56), Marizanne Kapp (62) and Chloe Tryon (70) all continued with the good form they’ve carried throughout the series. However the gap between them and the rest — including Luus, who’s suffered an alarming drop in the form she had at the World Cup — is alarming. Both Andrie Steyn and Lara Goodall, have struggled to make the step up against England’s bowlers, after they’d played well in Ireland.
Kapp and Tryon added 110 runs for the fifth wicket and while they were together, even though the required run rate was 10 an over, the Proteas still looked as if they could pull off an unlikely win. They were dismissed within five overs of each other, as England thanks to their spinners, Charlie Dean and Emma Lamb who both took 3/42, tied the bow on another dominant performance.
England lead the multi-format series 8-2
The two sides meet in a three match T20 series that starts on Thursday.
England 371/7
IOL Sport