Chester-le-Street, UK: Rassie van der Dussen’s century helped South Africa spoil Ben Stokes’ departure from One Day Internationals as the Proteas registered a 62-run win at home to England star Durham and Took a 1-0 lead in three. match series.
Van der Dussen’s career-best 134 was the cornerstone of South Africa’s 335–5, his highest ODI total in England.
He also shared a stand of 109 with opener Janman Malan (57) and 151 with Aiden Markram, who scored 77 runs.
Test captain Stokes didn’t have a glorious end to his 50-over international cricket career, which peaked with player of the match performances in England’s 2019 World Cup final victory.
The struggling 31-year-old pacer took a costly wicket of 0-44 in five overs amid the scorching heat when his loyal home fans led him to England on the field.
Stokes then scored just five runs with the bat before off-spinner Markram was dismissed lbw, missing a reverse sweep.
After Stokes had announced on Monday that the game would be his 105th and last at this level, the dynamic all-rounder said a busy England schedule meant he had to skip ODIs to give his best in Tests and Twenty20. Will happen.
Fellow World Cup winner Jos Buttler, now England’s white-ball captain, thanked Stokes for his ODI efforts.
“Three years ago (2019 World Cup final) will be in memory for a long time, but every day he comes, whether it is for training or in a match, he puts his 100 per cent.
“He has been a wonderful ambassador for us in ODI cricket. We will miss her.”
Joe Root took charge after Stokes was dismissed with a run-a-ball fifty.
But the target of 103 in the final eight overs, with England already six wickets down, was too high for even the world’s top-order Test batsman.
Root was eventually bowled out for 86 by express pacer Enrique Nortje, finishing with 4-53 in 8.5 overs.
“The boys were really clinical today,” South Africa captain Keshav Maharaj told Sky Sports. “Raisy set the tone with the bat and then the bowlers stuck to their plans well, so everyone is given full credit for their performance.”
It was no surprise on the day that the temperature soared to 37 degrees, with Captain Maharaj winning the toss and opting to bat in place of the injured Temba Bavuma.
“We didn’t expect England to be so hot, it was quite nostalgic, like being at home!” said the chef.
However, circumstances took their toll on England’s ODI debutante Matthew Potts, who was called up after India’s recent 2-1 series loss, bowled just four overs before leaving the field due to heat.
England openers Jason Roy (43) and Jonny Bairstow (63) stitched together a partnership of 102 in 19 overs to chase down the 50-over world champions.
But that stand came to an end when Roy caught left-arm spinner Maharaj for a boundary and David Miller took a good low catch while running the round from long-off.
Bairstow was relieved when Lungi Ngidi missed a regular opportunity at long leg, soon after Markram (2-25) was reduced to lbw on the sweep.
Slow bowling also proved Buttler’s undoing, with left-arm wrist spinner Tabrez Shamsi caught and bowled for 12 runs.
Taking pride in the way England fielded in the scorching heat, Butler said: “We haven’t had those breakthroughs yet, haven’t broken that wonderful van der Dussen-Markram partnership. We never managed to impose ourselves with the bat while chasing the target.
Earlier, van der Dussen’s leg-glazed boundary off Curran made him a century in 90 balls including nine fours. It was the 33-year-old’s third century in 36 ODIs and his first against England.
He surpassed his previous highest ODI score of 129 not out against India at Paarl in January this year, before he was bowled by Liam Livingstone, who fell two balls short after the spinner dismissed Markram. use to have.
The series continues on Friday at Old Trafford.