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England receded to a heartbreaking and rather, shock defeat to South Africa in the first of the three one-day contests that was held just a few hours ago in England. Despite playing in home conditions and despite having the rich experience of game changing talents such as Jofra Archer and Joe Root, the later, a legend of the game, England's defeat presented a situation of pure capitulation. A situation in which despite being 82 for the loss of 3 wickets, all that the hosts were able to eventually manage were no more than 131 runs in the end. Was it the pressure of playing at home and in having to prove their toughness in familiar host conditions or was it that the South Africans waged a full assault, never holding themselves back in the face of odds? Or was it something else altogether? Let us explore!
Here are three reasons why England lost first ODI against South Africa:
1. Over-dependence on Joe Root
Is the current English side slightly overly reliant or dependent on Joe Root? If that is a question that hasn’t been asked all that much, then it is time that one asks it, especially in situations where there is no Ben Stokes in an English playing XI. And this was exactly the case as seen a few hours ago in what became a disappointing series opening contest against South Africa, where England, despite playing at home hardly looked the part of a competitive team that would draw advantage from what were familiar home conditions.
Though Joe Root’s class and capability are redoubtable, it remains to be seen which of England’s other batters can play the part of the useful anchorman, which is a tall ask in white ball cricket in what are exceedingly competitive times for the sport.
2. Top order failure
England suffered dearly in the opening contest at the behest of a top order failure that besides Jamie Smith scoring 54 precious runs, didn’t really perform to its full potential. In fact, anything but!
After the wicket of Ben Duckett fell early on without the batter adding too many runs on the total, there was pressure on the usually-always-wonderful Joe Root. But even the former skipper was able to score just 14 for his side and in the wake of the score being 44-2, there was that pressure of recovery from which the team didn’t just recover, as one noted later on.
3. Keshav Maharaj being in brilliant form
Heading into the opening game of the three-match ODI series against Protea, Maharaj was always going to play the part of the ace spinner from South Africa’s contingent. Not only had he been in exceptional form in the white ball contests held in Australia, where plenty of batters failed to read the line, Maharaj also drew from the advantage of having not played too many games against the English side. Which meant that barring someone like Root, there weren’t too many who had played a lot against Keshav Maharaj.
That being said, the slow left arm orthodox spinner bowled a wonderful, unsparing spell in which he claimed 4 wickets while conceding just 22 runs of his 5.3 overs. This was enough to tighten the grip around England’s collapsing middle and lower middle order; the 35-year-old collecting the precious wickets of Bethell and Jacks in the process.
