South Africa beat England by seven wickets with more than 29 overs to spare in the series opener.
After coasting to a convincing seven-wicket victory over England on Tuesday, top-order batter Aiden Markram said the Proteas were relieved to get another one-day international (ODI) series underway in spectacular fashion.
Last month, the SA team got off to a cracking start during their 2-1 ODI series victory over Australia, and while they were crushed in the final game, they again enjoyed a great start against England in the opening fixture of their three-match series in Leeds.
“It’s something we’ve put a bit of emphasis on in the last 18 months. It feels like we sometimes start series and tournaments quite slowly, so we’re trying to get ahead of the series and start playing good cricket from game one,” Markram said.
“In both series now on the bounce, we’ve managed to start well at least.”
Dominant performance
Set a lowly target of 132 runs to win on Tuesday, the Proteas never relinquished control, claiming victory with more than 29 overs to spare.
After racing to his 14th ODI half-century off just 23 balls, opening batter Markram went on to rack up 86 for 55 before falling in the 19th over.
Fellow opener Ryan Rickelton, who made 31 not out, then carried the SA team home as they reached 137/3.
Earlier, after losing the toss and being sent in to bat, England never really got going, hobbling their way to 131 all out in their 50 overs.
Spin bowler Keshav Maharaj led the Proteas attack, taking 4/22, while Wiaan Mulder returned 3/33.
Clinical effort
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma was pleased with the team’s all-round performance
“Building from the momentum we got in Australia, it’s a good start to the series,” Bavuma said.
“We were clinical with the ball… and we could have been more clinical with the bat at the end but we were led by Aiden.
“The fielding was good – we caught well and we’re trying to improve – and now we want to build on this momentum.”
Looking ahead
The second of three matches in the ODI series between SA and England will be played in London, on Thursday.
And while they were confident after cruising to victory in Leeds, Bavuma said they were not getting ahead of themselves.
“We want to build on this momentum. It’s a quick turnaround, and Lord’s might be different conditions, so we’ll try to assess, but we’ve set our standard.”
