CHESTER-LE-STREET, United Kingdom —
Rassie van der Dussen’s century helped South
Africa spoil Ben Stokes’s farewell to one-day international cricket as the
Proteas won by 62 runs on the England star’s Durham home ground to go 1–0 up in
a three-match series.
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Van der Dussen’s
career-best 134 was the cornerstone of South Africa’s 335–5, their highest ODI
total in England.
He also shared
stands of 109 with opener
Janneman Malan (57) and 151 with Aiden Markram, who
made a stylish 77.
Test captain
Stokes did not have a fairytale finish to a 50-over international cricket
career that peaked with a player of the match display in England’s 2019 World
Cup final triumph.
The struggling
31-year-old paceman took an expensive 0–44 in five overs amid searing heat,
after being cheered by his loyal home fans as he led England onto the field.
Stokes then made
just five with the bat before he was lbw to off-spinner Markram, having missed
a reverse sweep.
Stokes had
announced on Monday that this game would be his 105th and last match at this
level, with the dynamic all-rounder saying a congested England fixture schedule
meant he had to jettison ODIs in order to still give of his best in Tests and
Twenty20s.
‘We will miss
Stokes’
Fellow World Cup-winner
Jos Buttler, now England’s white-ball captain,
thanked Stokes for his ODI efforts.
“Three years ago
(the 2019 World Cup final) will live long in the memory but every day he turns
up, whether that be for training or in a match, he puts in 100 percent.
“He has been a
fantastic ambassador for us in ODI cricket. We will miss him.”
Joe Root took up
the charge after Stokes’s dismissal with a run-a-ball fifty.
But a target of
103 off the last eight overs, with England already six wickets down, was too
much even for the world’s top-ranked Test batsman.
Root was
eventually bowled for an excellent 86 by express quick Anrich Nortje, who
finished with 4–53 from 8.5 overs.
“The boys were
really clinical today,” South Africa captain Keshav Maharaj told Sky Sports.
“Rassie set the tone with the bat and then the bowlers stuck really well to
their plans so full credit to everyone for their performances.”
On a day where
temperatures touched 37-degrees, it was no surprise Maharaj, skipper in place
of the injured Temba Bavuma, opted to bat first after winning the toss.
“We didn’t
expect a heat wave in England to quite be this hot, it was quite nostalgic, like
being at home!,” said Maharaj.
Conditions,
however, took their toll on
England ODI debutant Matthew Potts, called up after
the recent 2-1 series loss to India, who bowled just four overs before leaving
the field due to the heat.
England openers
Jason Roy (43) and Jonny Bairstow (63) had launched the 50-over world
champions’ chase with a partnership of 102 in 19 overs.
But that stand
ended when Roy chipped left-arm spinner Maharaj and David Miller, running round
from long-off, held a good low catch.
Bairstow,
reprieved when Lungi Ngidi dropped a routine chance at long leg, was lbw soon
afterward on the sweep to Markram (2–25).
Slow bowling
also proved the undoing of Buttler, caught and bowled for 12 by left-arm
wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
Buttler, proud
of the way England fielded in the extreme heat, said: “We just couldn’t quite
find those breakthroughs, couldn’t break that fantastic Van der Dussen-Markram
partnership. In the chase, we never managed to quite impose ourselves with the
bat.”
Earlier, van der
Dussen’s leg-glanced boundary off Curran saw him to a 90-ball hundred including
nine fours. It was the 33-year-old’s third century in 36 ODIs and 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 a Liam Livingstone delivery that kept low two
balls after the spinner dismissed Markram.
The series continues at
Old Trafford on Friday.
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