SA v Eng 3rd ODI Review: Quinton de Kock, Amla blow away England

South Africa batted supremely to chase down the big target and win the match by 7 wickets with 4 overs to spare. The Proteas were trailing 2-0 before coming into this match and this was a must-win game for them to save the 5-match series. Today’s play saw two brilliant individual performances from each team. One’s effort went in vain while the other’s effort propelled the team to a respectful victory.

England won the toss and batted first to post a competitive target of 319 runs with the help of Joe Root’s magnificent century. After a decent start, Alex Hales and Root completely nullified the South African bowling attack. Both put together a 125 runs partnership for the 2nd wicket and ensured that England were in a comfortable position at the halfway stage of the innings. But, Hales succumbed to Kagiso Rabada in the 27th overs to mark the end of the brilliant stand. Buttler and Morgan were quickly removed afterwards by Rabada and Wiese.

Stokes and Root then prepared themselves to make the team total big. Root switched gears while Stokes began to tonk straightway. But, he was run out following a mix-up with Stokes in the 43rd overs. The Englishmen looked set for a total close to 350 in best possibility. But, South Africans did well to contain the batting team in the final stages of the first innings. Kyle Abbott, in particular, bowled with control and skill to keep England down. He dismissed Stokes and Chris Jordan with successive deliveries. England, in the end, reached 318/8 after 50 overs.

Quinton de Kock (135 from 117 balls) and Hashim Amla (127 off 130 balls) opened the innings and played with complete authority over the English bowlers. De Kock was in fine touch today and dealt in boundaries. Amla, on the other hand, was conservatively in comparison to his junior teammate.

The duo kept batting amiably and, at one stage, threatened to pull off the chase single-handedly. Luck also played a minute role for the de Kock-Amla duo as few catches just fell short of the fielders. But, England finally had some reason to cheer as Adil Rashid managed to get Quinton caught by another centurion Joe Root at covers. The stand was broken as the wonder innings came to an end.

In a surprising move, David Wiese was sent to bat at number three with an intention of wrapping up the match quickly. However, this move turned out to be a blooper as Wiese was dismissed shortly. But, Amla kept going strong and along with Faf du Plessis did the rest of the job effectively. Unfortunately, he (127 from 130 balls) was not in the middle when the winning runs were hit as he was sent back to the pavilion just when 8 runs were required to win.

The little task left at hand was completed by du Plessis without taking much time after he smashed a gratuitous six and then took a single to ensure that the Proteas stay alive in the series.

Brief Scores:

England: 318/8 in 50 overs (Joe Root 125; Kyle Abbott 2/50)

South Africa: 319/3 in 46.2 overs (Quinton de Kock 135; Adil Rashid 1/45)

Man of the Match: Quinton de Kock (South Africa)