England in One Day Cricket

England take the lead again | Beat South Africa by 7 wickets

Not for nothing do they call cricket a funny game. The same two teams were playing today, the ground was the same, the same team batted first,  (even the day of the week was the same!)  but look at the difference in the magnitude of the two targets that England were given. Today they were given a target of 251 runs off 50 overs; last Sunday they were chasing only 9 more runs but the number of overs they had at their disposal then were 20! Yet when the England team came into chase, it was expected to be an even contest. In which other sport can you imagine such a scenario?

In betwen the two Sundays, rains visited Centurion. On a sluggish rain-affected pitch the South African batsmen struggled to accelerate and England captain Andrew Strauss made the right bowling changes and kept the home team under a tight leash. Luke Wright and Trott were given seven overs apiece and only 49 runs came off these fourteen overs. Anderson was the most expensive bowler but then he accounted for three wickets.

England got off to a slow start and when Strauss was dismissed in the final ball of the eighth over the score board read just 28.  A wicket was down, and the asking rate was climbing. Kevin Pietersen fell not too long after and the balance had firmly tilted to the other side. But the fall of Pietersen was the last cheerful moment for South Africa in the match. Paul Collingwood joined Trott and the duo went about their job wisely, never getting tempted nor letting the asking rate to get out of control. When Trott was eventually dismissed, the match was already a lost cause for the fielding team. Collingwood duly completed his hundred and Eoin Morgan collected a quick 27 runs to take England home to a comprehensive win with 4 overs and 7 wickets to spare.

The Englishmen had taken an unxpected 1-0 lead in the Twenty20 series. They are up again. In the last 8 head to head encounters between the two teams, England now lead 6-1. Yet South Africa were the pre-match favourites today and will again be when the 3rd ODI begins at Capetown. Not for nothing do they call cricket a funny game.