South Africa and England played the first ODI in the tri-series on July 19th at Riverside Ground.
Unlike any other ODI, this wasn’t just a match for the English team. It was officially the last match for Ben Stokes. The great all-rounder announced his retirement a few days before from ODI cricket and said that this would be his last one-day match.
SA won the toss and elected to bat first.
First Innings
Janneman Malan and Quinton de Kock came to open the innings for the SA team. They gave a slow but stable start until Quinton was bowled by Sam Curran.
As the first wicket fell, it seemed like SA may get in trouble. Rassie Van Der Dussen and Malan took forward the innings as Malan completed his half-century and later did Dussen.
Both together formed a partnership of 109 runs as Moeen Ali took the wicket of Janneman. Their great strategy of changing the bowling by Buttler worked.
Aiden Markram and Rassie continued to score runs as Aiden achieved his half-century and Dussen completed his century. They both made a partnership of 151 runs.
David Miller’s great shots added some extra and valuable runs to the total, and SA made a total of 333 runs for the loss of five wickets.
Second Innings
ENG’s openers were Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. They both gave a good start to the English team, and Jonny completed his half-century. Both together made a partnership of 102 runs for the first wicket.
Joe Root was trying to handle the match from one end, he was scoring runs but wasn’t getting any support from the other end.
Root completed his half-century and kept going as a one-man army to achieve the runs as Anrich Nortje bowled him at a score of 86 runs.
He tried his best to win the game but didn’t get any support as Anrich Nortje took four major wickets, pushing back the English team, and Tabraiz Shamsi and Aiden Markram took two wickets each, limiting the score to 271 runs for the loss of all their wickets.
As the match ended, Rassie Van Der Dussen was the Man of the
Match for his outstanding century.
Thanks for the epic battles in the ODI arena @benstokes38 🫂
We’ll catch you again in the other formats 👍#ENGvSA #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/VzaScAG6oz
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) July 19, 2022