Sensibly, England chose to bowl first on a slightly damp pitch that had a somewhat spongey character. It is a measure of a batsman’s intelligence to see how he starts an innings following an excellent knock. And, as I expected of him, Markram began cautiously, feeling his way: his touch some way below the level of two days ago.
No matter, he progressed, putting on 73 with an invigorated Rickelton before the latter fell to the speedster, Archer. Captain Bavuma’s second fleeting appearance in succession was hardly of concern, as Markram stayed until nearly 100 runs were posted – making 49 runs from 64 deliveries – before the middle order took over with a vengeance.
Player of the match, Matthew Breetzke played a match-winning knock of 85: he has yet to be dismissed for under fifty runs in his handful of ODI appearances, with an imperious average of 92.6 from his five (all-completed) innings. His partner, Stubbs departed shortly after Breetzke was dismissed by Archer, a potentially disastrous run out as he was poised to do a lot of damage having got to 58 at close to a run a delivery.
However, South Africa were in capable hands with their batsmen at number 6 and 7: Brevis – in particular, who made it into the early- forties at a strike rate a bit above two runs per delivery – and Bosch who stayed until the 50th over when on 32. The team total reached a highly challenging 330 runs – equating to 6.6 runs per over – on a pitch that turned out to fairly good to bat on but by no means heavenly due to the effects of heavy overnight and early morning rain.
Archer’s 4 wickets for 62 was just reward, while Rashid had claimed Markram and Bavuma in his highly economical 2 for 33 from his ration of 10 overs (as indicated, he does have a googly, contrary to his ESPN card). The more angry Rashid’s demeanour, the better he bowls! England conceded more than 300 runs due to the absence of a sixth specialist bowler or true all-rounder: the part-timers Bethell (left arm orthodox spin) and Jacks (right arm off spin) leaking like a coarse sieve, a combined 112 runs coming from their combined 10 overs.
Captain Brook is learning on the job the hard way. He really should have applied Root’s usually tidy off-spin, which is laced with an occasional concealed bouncer. It was worth trying him for say, 3 or 4 overs when the other two were getting targeted and hammered.
So a difficult, but by no means impossible, target faced England, with their batting line-up consisting of highly capable, enterprising individuals down to number 7 – including The King of white ball cricket, Jos Buttler (averaging 39.1 in ODIs, with 11 centuries from his 165 innings).
After a bad start – in which Smith perished for a golden duck, caught behind off Burger; and Duckett hung around for an hour while making just 14 runs, being jaded after indulging in too much action in the Hundred competition (injurious to anyone’s health) – the match was nearly won for England by Bethell (still 21 years of age), having been inserted at number four and accompanying the flowing Root. I suspect this positioning was decided on to give Bethell the opportunity to settle in without intense scoreboard pressure, which he would likely have encountered at number 6 or 7.
In the event, Bethell proceeded to put a series of recent low scores behind him and quickly found his touch. So much so that he overtook Root by the time they were in the early-50s. Bethell punished the bowling with 5 fours and 3 sixes, driven variously off the back and front foot, in making 58 from just 40 deliveries – discerning the length of pace and spin deliveries in a flash. He is (like the inconsistent Test batsman, Crawley) a “high ceiling” player, being a species much loved by coach McCullum.
Root went out soon after Bethell had departed, uncharacteristically misjudging – badly – the flight of a delivery, this coming from the left arm orthodox Maharaj who demonstrated, once again, that one doesn’t have to turn the ball appreciably to become a leading ODI bowler.
The scoreboard was now reading, England 147 runs for 4 wickets: a difficult if not a precarious position, even though the (remaining) required run rate was well under control. After a resurrection through a 70 run partnership between Brook and Buttler, the former departed prematurely when looking dangerous on 33. With the score reading 216 for 5 wickets, the match being delicately poised – hope resting squarely on Buttler who was batting with flair and sound judgement about which shots to employ.
However, forty runs later a very well disguised slower deliver from paceman Ngidi did for Buttler, then purring on 61. This proved a decisive turning point, even though Archer would later get England to within striking distance in the ultimate 50th over – springing into action to smote 2 fours and 2 sixes, facing 14 deliveries for an undefeated 27 runs. The prospect of victory had seemed remote only a few minutes earlier; but the opportunity went begging due to a couple of mishits. The scarcely believable prospect proved, by the time of the penultimate delivery, to be just that!
Ngidi had an unjust return of 1 for 72 runs from his 10 overs – from at least half a dozen of his cleverly disguised slower deliveries he could easily have had a couple more wickets; Bosch took 1 wicket for 38 runs with very good economy at 3.8 runs per over, his initial four overs of excellent length going for a mere four runs in applying telling pressure; Berger damaged England’s lower order, as well as removing Smith at the top of it, in capturing 3 for 63; and Maharaj had 2 for 59, accounting for Duckett and Root; while Muthusamy was fairly expensive but had seen off Brook. Markram’s two over stint was an expensive experiment, being brought on try to counter the left hander, Bethell.
At the end, all three parties had reason to be satisfied. South Africa for having won the only close ODI contest in their last five outings, being in Australia prior to England – winning three and losing one of what were lop-sided contests. Their fielding and catching in this match have been of the highest order. England, for their part, being satisfied for having restored their pride – although No Cigar. And the estimated 2.8 million Parisians (comprising one-quarter of the metropolitan population) who watched the match on their television sets, would have found the play absorbing throughout and were, indeed, most happy with the eventual result!
