SA vs ENG: Jofra Archer fails to deliver on long-awaited return to international circuit

Jofra Archer's long-awaited return to international cricket turned out to be pretty underwhelming as the speed merchant turned out to be very expensive while playing against hosts South Africa in the first match of the ongoing three-match ODI series.

Archer, who last played an international game on March 20, 2021, conceded a whopping 81 runs in his quota of ten overs and looked rusty. Archer conceded runs at a highly expensive economy rate of 8.10 and could only bag a solitary wicket.

Archer dismissed the Proteas all-rounder Wayne Parnell on his return to the international circuit. The Barbados born dismissed Parnell in the penultimate over of South Africa's innings. On the third delivery of the 49th over, Archer took the pace off the delivery and Parnell in an attempt to go over the off side ended up hitting it straight to backward point and Dawid Malan made no mistake and held on to the catch.

Malan's catch gave Archer a reason to rejoice after a nearly forgettable day for the Barbados-born as per his own standards. Archer recently had a decent outing in the SA20 while playing for MI Cape Town where he bagged eight scalps in five games at an economy rate of 7.57.

South Africa have posted a competitive total of 298 on the board courtsey of a magnificent hundred by Rassie van der Dussen, who scored 111 runs off 117 balls, including six fours and a six. Rassie, who last played an ODI against the Three Lions on August 24, 2022 at Leeds was also making his return to ODI cricket and looked in control throughout the course of his innings.

Meanwhile, as far as the first ODI is concerned South Africa's white-ball skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein. The opening pair of Bavuma and Quinton de Kock got the hosts off to a stable start as they put up 61 runs on the board in 8.4 overs.

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