England 342 for 7 (Buttler 94*, Brook 80, Moeen 51, Nortje 2-64) v South Africa
Partly, South Africa were out in the field for longer than they should have been because they conceded 18 wides and a no-ball. But mostly, they were chasing leather, with England posting two half-century stands and one century partnership (106 runs between Buttler and Moeen Ali for the fifth-wicket) and scoring big at the end. England plundered 60 runs off the last four overs to top 340.
Some consolation for the hosts is that they will have opener Quinton de Kock available to bat after an injury scare. De Kock left the field after 15 overs in the England innings after being hit on the right thumb and was taken for an X-ray which showed no fracture. He has been cleared to bat. However, South Africa also suffered two other injuries: Wayne Parnell hurt his left big toe when fielding off his own bowling in the 41st over but finished his 10 overs and said he was feeling fine at the break and Lungi Ngidi appeared to pull up with a hamstring problem in his last over and left the field.
South Africa made three changes to the attack that won them Friday’s series-opener and left out Kagiso Rabada, Sisanda Magala and Tabraiz Shamsi for Marco Jansen, Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj. Of those, only Ngidi’s inclusion could be considered a success, and only for his first two spells. He had figures of 1 for 28 after seven overs but then conceded 38 runs in his last two overs and finished as South Africa’s most expensive bowler. Jansen and Maharaj were the next-most costly.
With seam movement and even a hint of swing on offer, South Africa’s new-ball bowlers created several early chances. Ngidi rapped Dawid Malan on the pad with his first delivery and then South Africa had two unsuccessful reviews in the space of seven balls – one when Ngidi thought he had Malan caught down the leg side but the ball had come off the pad, and another when Parnell thought he had Roy lbw but ball-tracking suggested it was too high – before they got some reward. Ngidi bowled Roy with a delivery that nipped back and removed the off bail and Parnell pinned Malan on the back pad to leave England 33 for 2 in the seventh over.
England only began to build some momentum when the change bowlers came on. Brook, who was dismissed for a duck on debut on Friday, got his first ODI boundary when he inside-edged Jansen to fine leg but then found his rhythm with an exquisite square drive. Brook went on to ramp Jansen over the slips and hit Anrich Nortje over backward square for six. Ben Duckett was little more than a spectator at the other end until he advanced at Maharaj and holed out to long-on. Brook had more luck against South Africa’s specialist spinner and took 19 runs off the 13 balls he faced from Maharaj, including the single that brought him his fifty, off the 46th ball he faced.
Like Duckett, Buttler also played second fiddle to Brook, who seemed set for a first century in the format, especially when South Africa were forced to use Aiden Markram’s part-time offspin to keep up with the over rate. Brook unfurled a gorgeous cover drive off Markram’s third ball but in his next over attempted an inside-out drive over the covers only to skew a leading edge to Rassie van der Dussen on the rope.
England were boundary-less for 23 balls after Brook’s dismissal as Buttler and Moeen got themselves in but breached the fence when Buttler hit Markram over long-off and then drove him through the covers to force him out of the attack. With his eye in, Buttler reached fifty off 49 balls, and at 197 for 4 after 35 overs, England would have been eyeing 350-plus.
Buttler and Moeen took 64 runs off the next six overs and Moeen got to his fifty off 42 balls in an over where he hit Nortje for 14 runs. Nortje got his own back when Moeen dragged him onto his stumps and South Africa could apply the brakes. They gave away just 21 runs from the 42nd to 46th overs, and were squeezing England until Buttler and Sam Curran got hold of Ngidi. He hit 22 runs off Ngidi’s eighth over, including three sixes to mess up his figures. Curran played the perfect cameo, scoring 28 runs off 17 balls to give England impetus at the end.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent