Your essential guide to the third ODI between England and the Proteas at Lord’s.
SCENESETTER:
Having narrowly lost the Royal London One Day Series with a two-run defeat on Saturday, the Proteas find themselves in a dead rubber heading into the final ODI at Lord’s. No harm was done to the Proteas’ No 1 ranking ahead of the final ODI on Monday, so there will be nothing to lose, allowing players to gain some much-needed confidence and momentum with a consolation win, before their Champions Trophy hunt begins against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
The Proteas tweaked the lineup which suffered a 72-run defeat at Headingley, and decided to give Farhaan Behardien, Keshav Maharaj and Dwaine Pretorius a run at the Rose Bowl, with JP Duminy, Imran Tahir and Wayne Parnell losing out. De Villiers opted to field first again, and once again their bowling unit was hit for 300-plus, which gives Russell Domingo a valid reason to try out Morne Morkel for the final game before the ICC tournament.
England’s deep-batting prowess was on display once again, as Ben Stokes followed his captain’s first ODI heroics by picking up a ton of his own. The Proteas did, however, have three chances to dismiss him and they missed out on those opportunities. The least mistakes win the game, but more sloppiness in the field saw them leak unnecessary runs.
All in all, the Proteas must play their best lineup in the final ODI and aim for a victory at Lord’s, to keep their spirits high heading into the Champions Trophy.
KEEP AN EYE ON:
Hashim Amla has the chance to continue his fine record of being the fastest batsman to 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 runs. He needs just 23 runs to become the fastest to 7,000 runs and bump Virat Kohli off the perch with 11 innings to spare.
Joe Root has started well in both games, but never really kicked on to score compelling totals. In the first ODI, he managed 37 and contributed to a 98-run stand with Alex Hales, which saw the opener reach 61. It was lady luck who struck in the second ODI, when a straight drive from his captain, Eoin Morgan, nicked the outstretched hand of Pretorius and crashed into his stumps at the bowler’s end, Root run out for a 41-ball 39. He will be hungry to get a big score, with the pressure off, to gain some momentum for their opening match against Bangladesh on 1 June.
FORM
South Africa: LLWLW
England: WWWWW
TEAMS:
The Proteas need to shuffle things around and select their best lineup for the final match before the Champions Trophy. With bounce playing a massive part in the series, Morkel should replace Pretorius, as Phehlukwayo picked up another scalp to go with his two from the Headingley ODI. Duminy will likely come back at No 5, as he needs to get some confidence before the tournament starts. Imran Tahir should replace Maharaj.
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock 2 Hashim Amla 3 Faf du Plessis 4 AB de Villiers (c) 5 JP Duminy 6 David Miller 7 Chris Morris 8 Andile Phehlukwayo 9 Kagiso Rabada 10 Morne Morkel 11 Imran Tahir
Steven Finn, Toby Roland-Jones and Liam Dawson have been called up, after deciding not to risk Stokes, Woakes and Moeen at Lord’s.
England: 1 Jason Roy 2 Alex Hales 3 Joe Root 4 Eoin Morgan (c) 5 Jonny Bairstow 6 Jos Buttler 7 Adil Rashid 8 David Willey 9 Liam Plunkett 10 Mark Wood 11 Jake Ball
STATS:
– South Africa are yet to win an ODI at Lord’s, having lost all three previous encounters with England at the ground.
– Hashim Amla has the highest ODI score by a South African at the ground, 45.
– 220-8 (2012) is the highest innings score by SA at Lord’s in ODIs to date.
– Hashim Amla requires another 23 runs to reach 7,000 ODI runs and become the fastest batsman to do so.
– Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are tied for the most ODI centuries in South Africa’s history with 24.
QUOTES:
AB on the second ODI defeat: ‘I got a bit excited, thought we had it in the bag. Got to give credit to the last two bowlers of England, who finished there, they showed some great skill and good plans.There’s a lot still to play for at Lord’s and I think if we play a similar hand there, that’s all we want. A win will be great.’
Miller after defeat: ‘We fell short, which is disappointing, but we are also preparing for something big. If anything, you would rather have it happen now than in the Champions Trophy, so hopefully we can learn from something like this, but it is tough to swallow.’
Eoin Morgan was surprised after second ODI win: ‘It’s unbelievable really. I don’t know how to explain it. To have won it without taking wickets is an unbelievable effort.’
Photo: Philip Brown/Getty Images
