Rassi van der Dussen struck a solid 111 in 117 balls – his fourth ODI hundred – to lead South Africa to a challenging 298 for seven wickets in the first Betway ODI against England on a steamy Friday afternoon at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.
By contrast, the fabled England paceman Jofra Archer, playing his first international in nearly two years after a series of injuries, was hit for 81 in his 10 overs, his most expensive spell in the format. Looking at his performance in context, however, England will have been pleased that he got through his allotted overs without any sign of physical discomfort.
If Van der Dussen was South Africa’s rock, enabling the home team to almost reach the 300 mark, Sam Curran – struggling for form in the SA20 – was England’s outstanding bowler, claiming 3/35 in nine overs on a flat pitch that looked made of runs. There was little bounce, no swing and easy pace for the batsmen and Curran was extremely accurate, giving almost nothing away, while his occasional bouncer was well directed and, in Quinton de Kock’s case, deadly.
De Kock and Temba Bavuma started the innings with a rush, looking in no trouble and simply hitting the plentiful bad balls provided by Archer and David Willey for boundaries as the Proteas raced to 61 in the ninth over before Bavuma, out of the blue, slogged the final ball of Moeen Ali’s first over to Curran at mid-on who took a fine low catch diving to his left.
De Kock, who was timing the ball beautifully, was then undone by Curran’s bouncer, getting a feather of an edge through to Jos Buttler as he attempted to hook.
After the brisk start, South Africa’s run rate was now falling, with Aiden Markram and Van der Dussen struggling to get going. Markram had reached 13 in 19 balls when he struck a lofted cover drive to Dawid Malan at cover who scooped up a fine catch.
Van der Dussen, however, was gradually building momentum and, most importantly, not giving his wicket away as he and Heinrich Klaasen added a half-century partnership at just about a run a ball for the fourth wicket before Klaasen was leg before sweeping at Adil Rashid. The English legspinner eventually conceded 55 in his 10 overs, but he bowled better than that, being unfortunate not to take wickets on a number of occasions.
David Miller and Van der Dussen then produced the most productive partnership – 110 in 101 balls – for the fifth wicket. Miller was not at his most fluent, while Van der Dussen struck six fours and a huge six off Archer in his innings that was ended by Curren as the centurion sliced a drive to cover.
Miller eventually perished after he had reached his 19th ODI fifty, clubbing Curran to long-on where Willey took a brilliant catch in nonchalant style, pushing the ball up in the air while over the boundary line and then hopping back into play to complete the catch.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Sisanda Magala, Tabraiz Shamsi, Anrich Nortje
England: Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Ben Duckett, Jos Buttler (capt, wk), Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, David Willey, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Olly Stone