England toppled the visitors to clinch a big victory of 118 runs and leveled the 3-match ODI series by 1-1. The rain affected the game at Old Trafford and was reduced to 29 overs per side.
Another collapse for England Top Order
This was the 5 consecutive times in ODI that England was bowled out entirely in a limited-over match.
England’s top order again failed to give them a solid start which they are known for. South Africans who had a gala match during the first ODI were looking in complete control during the first innings of play.
England was reduced to 72 for 5 soon and it seemed like England batters are unable to find out the rhythm in a 29-over match not knowing how to pace the inning.
Combining Efforts from the Lower Order and Tailenders
A mark of 200 was looking nearly impossible for England to achieve but a courageous effort from Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran down the order and some good hitting by David Willey gave England a good chance to fight back in this match.
England’s inning was wrapped under 29 overs at a score of 201, Livingstone was the highest scorer for England scoring 38 runs followed by Sam Curran who contributed 35 runs to the tally.
For South Africa, Dwaine Pretorius was the pick of the bowlers who dented England’s batting at the start of the innings by picking 4 wickets.
Surrender from the South African Batting line-up
Chasing the total of 202 looked like an Everest to climb for visitors, the left-arm pacers Reece Topley who is having an incredible summer for England, David Willey, and Sam Curran ripped the African Top order.
South Africans were reeling on 27 for 5 losing their first four wickets at a mere score of 6 where three batters departed without troubling the scorers.
Heinrich Klaasen did try hard to handle the innings but the damage was already done and it was a matter of time before the spin duo Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali wrapped up the South African innings at a score of just 83 runs.
England won the match by 118 runs, for the hosts Adil Rashid was the leading wicket-taker with a tally of 3 while Reece Topley and Moeen Ali picked up 2 wickets each.
The final one day will be played at Leeds on Sunday which is the 24 of July making it more interesting because England batters are still struggling to find their form while South Africa will be eager to make up their chances to qualify for the World Cup 2023 directly.
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