CWC 2023: Match Report - England v/s South Africa
South Africa thrash England to nearly knock the defending champions out of the competition
Both England and South Africa came into the World Cup’s 1st match at Wankhede Stadium since the 2011 Final on the backs of surprising defeats. Having seen Sam Curran and Chris Woakes struggle so far, England decided to make 3 changes with Ben Stokes also returning for Liam Livingstone. The only change for South Africa was the absence of Temba Bavuma due to illness.
South African Innings - The first 15 overs
England with their two left-armers, Reece Topley and David Willey started really after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Both the English opening bowlers bowled accurately and in the right zone to keep the Saffers to just 18 runs in the first 6. Not only did they dismiss Quinton de Kock early but also ensured that Reeza Hendricks needed 14 balls to get off the mark in his 1st game this World Cup.
Things changed quickly as South Africa recovered by scoring 7 fours in the next 4 overs to bring the run rate back to just under 6. The wonderful stroke play by Rassie and Hendricks showed that the pitch wasn’t challenging to bat on, once the early movement started to wear out.
Overs 16-35
South Africa started well by scoring a 4 and 6 off Mark Wood in the 1st over after the drinks break. However Adil Rashid, bowling with a stomach bug, got England back in the game. After Adam Zampa on the previous day, Rashid was the 2nd spinner to find some much rythm. Both his googlie and the stock ball (leggie) was turning quite a lot as he removed Hendricks with the former and stand-in skipper Markram with the latter.
Mark Wood’s ordinary World Cup continued as he sprayed the ball all over the pitch and going for over 10 an over. Wood’s 3 wickets so far have come against Afghanistan and Bangladesh so far come at an average of 70 and economy of 6.8. Jos Buttler was forced to use Joe Root to make up for his overs. Obviously Topley’s injury hurt England, but one thing each South African batter did well was to ensure that the run rate did not drop when the wickets fell as the graph below shows. Without taking too many risks, South Africa managed 142 for the loss of 3 wickets in these 20 overs.
The last 15 overs
The wickets ensured it wasn’t one-way traffic since South Africa’s last batting pair (Klassen and Miller) were at the crease at this point. Both Markram and Miller got out to half volleys by Topley and Markram in particular will be disappointed considering how well he was timing the ball. Marco Jansen’s limited ability at number 7 meant England were able to pull things back a touch in the next 5, conceding just 23 runs.
The heat and humidity in Mumbai certainly didn’t help with multiple players like David Willey and Klassen himself struggling with cramps. Heinrich Klassen needed to play smartly, to ensure he kept most of the strike and the team didn’t get bundled out without batting 50 overs. Once he got to his fifty in the 42th over, he really turned it on getting 57 off the next 27 balls notching up the best 100 of this World Cup.
At the other end, Marco Jansen starting by just taking ones, trying to make sure Klassen didn’t have a chance of running out of partners. England’s death bowling is not known to be solid, but both Reece Topley and Mark Wood bowled plenty of full tosses (including a couple around waist height) and a few deliveries in the slot. At the end of 42nd over, Jansen was batting 12 off 20 balls and then he took full advantage of England’s ordinary bowling to finish with 75 runs off just 42, as South Africa managed to notch up 399.
The English Innings
At the halfway mark, WinViz showed England’s chances at 17%. That felt a little high but it was perhaps a sign of the true nature of the pitch. Obviously, the England batters would have to go from the start to have any chance of chasing this down. South Africa continued their form at the top of the innings with some good bowling. Combine that with the desperation to get their 2nd win in the World Cup and some poor luck (like Malan’s dismissal down leg) England found themselves 68/6 in just 12 overs.
The ninth wicket partnership provided some entertainment for the Mumbai crowd as South Africa once again struggled to wrap up the opposition’s innings, but Keshav Maharaj put an end to that end to hand them a huge win. The English had one of the easiest series of fixtures to start the World Cup, but somehow they look dead and buried. If they somehow manage to win all the remaining five games, they may have an outside chance but they are yet to play India and Australia and need to find a way to take wickets consistently. South Africa, on the other hand, is in a solid position with not just 3 wins out of 4 but also a tremendously positive net run rate. And the batting form in particular looks scary to challenge any team on any given day.