Resurgent South Africa eye series victory in Durban

SA Eng
SA Eng

Overview

South Africa v England, 2nd ODI
Kingsmead, Durban
Friday, 7 February; 1.00 pm local, 11.00 GMT

South Africa, under the new leadership of Quinton de Kock, ticked all the boxes to return to winning ways after their 3-1 Test series drubbing against England. De Kock played a match-winning knock along with Temba Bavuma for company. Spinner Tabraiz Shamsi picked up the most wickets for his side, while others too chipped in to contain the England batsmen.

Debutants JJ Smuts and Lutho Sipamla gave a fair account of themselves, and could get another chance to show what they can do.

England's debutants, meanwhile, had a tougher outing. Skipper Eoin Morgan rued his bowlers' inability to create pressure on the well-set Kock and Bavuma, and Matt Parkinson, the leg-spinner playing his first series, will want to show what he is capable of.

Remember the last time

England posted a par score of 258/8 after they were asked to bat, thanks to Joe Denly's 87 and a 42-ball 40 from No.8 Chris Woakes. Shamsi was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts, returning 3/38 from his 10 overs. South Africa chased down the target in 47.4 overs. De Kock played a captain's knock, scoring a brilliant 107 from 113 balls, while Bavuma's innings was as praiseworthy for his 98 runs off 103. The duo shared a match-defining stand of 173 for the second wicket.

What they said

**Chris Woakes, England paceman: "**If we took wickets at important times, we could have put some pressure on them. That partnership between Temba and Quinton was pretty good and hard to break, and that won them the game."

Quinton de Kock, South Africa captain: "It's only one game (speaking of captaincy), we'll see how it goes in the near future. Hopefully, it keeps on being good for me. I enjoyed it. It kept me in the game specially when things were really tough. The extra bit of responsibility helped me."

Conditions

Occasional rain and thunderstorms are expected to interrupt the game. The pacers could find the overcast conditions helpful. South Africa last played an ODI in Kingsmead in March 2019 against Sri Lanka. De Kock made a century in that game, helping his side to 331/5. The hosts won the rain-affected game by 71 runs on DLS method.