Bloemfontein - Jos Buttler smashed a 73-ball century as England scored 399/9 against a hapless South African bowling attack in the first One-Day International at the Mangaung Oval on Wednesday.
Buttler, who claimed in a recent interview that he modelled his batting on that of AB de Villiers, certainly performed a good impression of him using some sparkling strokeplay all around the wicket to underscore the touring team’s dominance.
England had won the toss and their skipper Eoin Morgan had little hesitation in batting on what was a flat pitch. With a quick outfield thrown into the mix, it meant a significant challenge for the bowlers. However South Africa’s bowlers were dreadful, making life very hard for captain AB de Villiers as they bowled both sides of the wicket with varying lengths.
England took advantage of the ill-discipline and within six overs openers Jason Roy – who recovered from back spasms – and Alex Hales had 50 on the board.
Staying true to their new tacking philosophy, England swung hard at the South Africans.
Their first wicket partnership of 68 came in 7.4 overs and only ended when Roy slapped Morne Morkel to Farhaan Behardien at extra cover.
That became something of a theme for the English batsmen. On an easy paced pitch the only way to get out was if the batsmen did so themselves and to a large extent that’s what happened.
England did profit too though. Four of their batsmen went passed 50, with Buttler producing the outstanding performance in scoring the fourth century of his career – and his second in succession.
Buttler mixes power with creativity, so there were a few ‘scoops’ over the keeper and a number of reverse sweeps as first in partnership with Joe Root, who made 52, he put on 97 runs for the third wicket, and then added 61 for the fifth wicket with Ben Stokes.
Buttler’s hundred came off 73 balls, and he was dismissed a short while after achieving the landmark when he was caught at mid-off by De Villiers off Behardien for 105 , which included 11 fours and five sixes.
Stokes, who was in great form in the Tests series, scored 57 off 38 balls as England overpowered South Africa and looked on course to comfortably rack up 400.
That they didn’t was largely down to them being too aggressive, but that is not something they will mind.
Instead the problems are with South Africa, who chose to rest Kagiso Rabada in the opening match of the five match series, giving Marchant de Lange, who wasn’t even in the SA A squad originally, a game
All the South African frontline bowlers conceded over 70 runs, while JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien, who made up the fifth bowler’s ration, conceded a combined total of 93 runs from the 10 overs they shared.
It was the first time in the history of One-Day cricket that eight batsmen had hit at least one six in an innings, and the 15 sixes England managed is a record for them in the 50-over format.
IOL