The post-Ben Stokes era is upon England and although ODI cricket is not their top priority this year, they will want to start crafting a style of play that can sustain them through to their defence of the World Cup in India next year. On the evidence of the series opener, that has to involve an injection of energy after it was found lacking with both bat and ball on Tuesday. Being asked to field first on a day of record temperatures means they can be cut some slack but they won’t want to use it as an excuse to keep their form in this format middling.
What England have on their side is time. Even if they don’t pull things back, another series loss would not be a cause for major concern just yet. Instead, their main worries remain over the schedule, which has been particularly brutal for them in the pandemic era and will be in the spotlight at next week’s ICC AGM.
South Africa are yet to fully feel the effects of that and won’t read too much into these results: they swept India 3-0 at the beginning of the year only to lose their World Cup Super League series against Bangladesh. But this series gives them the opportunity to build consistency around a top six who are in good form, and a varied attack that give them plenty of options.
Form guide
(last five completed matches, most recent first)
England: LLWLW
South Africa: WLWLW
England: (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow, 3 Joe Root, 4 Moeen Ali, 5 Jos Buttler (capt/wk), 6 Phil Salt, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Craig Overton, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley
South Africa: (possible) 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Janneman Malan, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 Keshav Maharaj (capt), 9 Anrich Nortje, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi
“It’s very obvious at the minute that whenever you get an opportunity to play for England – we’re world champions in this format – you have to take it with both hands. And that’s about how complicated it gets in my mind.”
Phil Salt keeps it simple ahead of a likely chance in the middle order.
“I’m sure they will be looking for someone who can be quite attacking and aggressive. I think they’ll stick to what they have been trying to produce over the last few years which is to be quite aggressive.”
Anrich Nortje expects England to replace Ben Stokes with another full-throttle batter.