After much thrill and anticipation in the first two ODI’s, the third and final ODI between England and South Africa was canceled due to heavy rain in Leeds, resulting in a 1-1 tie in the series standings.
Quinton de Kock appeared to be in fantastic form during the 27.4 overs that could be played in two halves owing to rain and finished with 92 not out off 76 balls. David Willey, in response, bowled aggressive full-lengths in an effort to generate some swing after being particularly harsh with him. Adil Rashid and Reece Topley both had the same therapy. De Kock actually welcomed the legspinner with back-to-back boundaries as he progressed to his fifty-off 39 deliveries.
De Kock appeared to be in perfect control at one end, but England was able to take wickets at the other end, removing both Janneman Malan and Rassie van der Dussen. Malan was quickly caught by Willey at backward point, but van der Dussen was dismissed by Rashid in the 17th over after a botched slog-sweep.
The play was suspended due to rain after 20.5 overs, and the game could not resume until 110 minutes later with only 45 overs remaining for each side. Before the rains came again, De Kock and Aiden Markram both took a shot during the 6.5 overs that were available. This time, the umpires determined that even a 20-over game would not be achievable before the cutoff time of 18:04 local time, and they decided to end the game.
Player of Series, Van der Dussen talked about the match as he said, “It’s a pity today. We were in a pretty good position. The pitch played a bit tricky up front but we knew we had to take care of the power play and Quinny batted superbly to transfer the pressure back on them. We were in a good position and we were looking to get 300+ again, but pity about the rain. [On the team’s best batting make-up] We are pretty close.
In the first game, we wanted to hit the ground running from the first game and that was massive for us for scoring a good 300 there and begin on our way today. We have our blueprints, we had a bit of a hiccup a few days ago but that happens in batting. England was brilliant two days ago and we had to set that right today and we were well on our way. [On his role] I want to be adaptable. I have batted at various positions throughout the batting line-up.
Taking care of the powerplay, getting hitting space, playing clever cricket, smart cricket in the middle and if we are batting first, getting a 300+ score and backing our bowlers. [On his innings in the first ODI] It was pretty hot. You don’t come to England expecting that heat but for us it wasn’t too foreign. A special inning obviously. In a big match, we wanted to make a statement and we could do that, and it came against the World Champions, so was great. A 1-1 result, is probably a fair result. England was good in stages, we were good in stages.”
PLAYER OF THE SERIES – Van der Dussen
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