GGS NEWS : For the second time in eight days England have been relieved of their No 1 status by South Africa, this time in the 50-over format after being thrashed by 80 runs at the Ageas Bowl last night. The loss, their first in this format for 2012, also brings to an end their 10-match run of victories, one short of equalling the England record. After losing their Test crown at Lord’s last week, this was a double whammy, especially as they have slipped to third behind India in 50-over game. They can reclaim it again with a win at the Oval on Friday but they will need to bat better and drop fewer catches than they did here. All defeats hurt, especially now that South Africa are No 1 in all three forms of the game, but this would have been particularly galling for the home side’s management given Kevin Pietersen’s poignant hundred for Surrey 90 miles west of here at Taunton. Pietersen’s 163 was almost twice as much as England’s top four managed chasing South Africa’s 287 after Hashim Amla made a career best 150. England have twice before scored the 288 needed here runs here, so they had the backing of history, but they endured the worst possible start to their chase when Alastair Cook was bowled second ball for a duck. Lonwabo Tsotsobe swung his first ball away from Cook and his second one in, a combination that proved too good for England’s one-day captain as he was left to contemplate his scattered stumps.On a tricky pitch, it never really got much better for the hosts who lost wickets at regular intervals trying to get on terms with their task. Ian Bell, so majestic in the brief bit of play at Cardiff last Friday, looked good again until confronted by spin on a surface gripping like those in Dubai and India. Suddenly his big strokes shrivelled to a tentative prod though even that failed to stop Robin Peterson turning it past his bat to hit off-stump. His partnership of 64 with Jonathan Trott was England’s best of the game, one ended when Trott was brilliantly caught by Dean Elgar at long leg. Elgar, in his second international, completely misjudged Trott’s pick-up flick off Morne Morkel, though he more than compensated by clinging on with his fingertips. Thereafter it was sad procession against South Africa’s spinners any hope essentially ended when Eoin Morgan was sixth man out in the 34th over, caught at deep mid-wicket by Elgar off JP Duminy’s off-spin. With England 159-6, his wicket sparked a lemming rush to the cliff edge that saw both Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann fall to Wayne Parnell for ducks. Had the trend continued England’s wouldn’t have made as many as Pietersen, which would have set the Twittersphere abuzz. But a last wicket blitz by Samit Patel and Steve Finn, in which Morkel and Pietersen were struck for 33 runs off two overs, brought the crowd to life before reality and Morkel struck in his next over. Certainly England didn’t have anyone in Amla’s class on the day, though he was given two lives when Kieswetter dropped him on 42 and 92, the chances being neither straightforward nor difficult. A sumptuous innings, it was Amla’s highest score in one-day internationals. He also passed 3,000 ODI runs, the quickest to do so in terms of matches played. While England were the poorer for those misses anyone appreciating fine strokeplay was enriched by extra batting it brought Amla, especially the effortless way he eased the ball around the ground. His shot selection and placement were so good that he rarely needed to force the issue with an “ugly” shot, something not many can claim in a format that has long encouraged the slogger. The closest he came to something brutal was lifting Bresnan over mid-off for four on the up during the batting Powerplay, but even that had a grace few could impart for the same result. Amla’s wristy skills make it hard to set a field to him, as he can just as easily play the same ball through the leg-side or through the off. Some of his deliberately steered edges through the slip area looked like errors but they were deliberate, an ambiguity Pakistan’s Zaheer Abbas tormented bowlers with for years. He was eventually dismissed by Finn with two balls remaining, his contribution coming from a disproportionately small share of the balls (124 out off 298 bowled while he was at the crease). When someone dominates to that extent there isn’t the need for others to make big scores though Graeme Smith did score 52 in an opening stand with Amla worth 89. He was caught by Kieswetter off Bresnan, a good running catch off a top-edged hook. But three drops by him thereafter and some sloppy fielding from England in general were always going to leave them chasing the game, and that’s the way it stayed. Source: GGS News
