Half-baked performances expose holes in England’s armoury: Player Ratings for the visitors
The defending ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup champions, England will not be happy with how they have started their ODI preparations in the year of their title defense. Up against a struggling South African side, the Three Lions suffered a 1-2 ODI series defeat. Let us check out the report card of the English players:
Batters
Jason Roy (8/10): Jason Roy cannot be blamed for England’s poor performance, as while he was not spectacular, he was not poor either. The English opener scored 123 runs in the three matches, at an average of 41 and a strike rate of 105.21.
The 32-year-old had a fantastic start to his campaign, as he scored a century in the first match. However, he could not follow it up and was dismissed for only 9 runs in the second match, before losing his wicket at 1 in the last game.
Dawid Malan (9/10): Like Roy, Dawid Malan should also not be held accountable for the underwhelming performance of his team, as he did his job fairly well. The left-handed batter scored 189 runs in three matches, with an average of 63 and a strike rate of 102.71.
Malan scored 59 runs in the first match, but the second match did not go according to plans as he was dismissed for only 12. However, he made a strong comeback in the last game and played a big role in his team’s only win by scoring 118 crucial runs.
Ben Duckett (2/10): Ben Duckett is one of the English players who simply could not turn up in this series and will only have himself to blame if the national selectors hand him the axe. He was given three chances but failed in all of them, scoring only 23 runs at an average of 7.66 and a strike rate of 54.76.
The 28-year-old batter scored only 3 runs in the first match, while the second match was the only time he looked in some sort of rhythm, as he scored 20 runs. However, it was not of much use as in the third match, Duckett was dismissed for a duck.
Harry Brook (4/10): England has huge expectations from Harry Brook and there is a good reason behind it, as he has often proved why he is the next big thing in international cricket. However, Brook himself will be disappointed with his numbers in this series.
He could score only 86 runs across the three matches, which came at an average of 28.66 and a strike rate of 98.85. After getting dismissed for a duck in the first match, he did well to score 80 runs in the second match. But the third game was yet again a major letdown, as he was dismissed for only 6.
Jos Buttler (10/10): While the results did not go in the favour of his team, Jos Buttler proved yet again why he is England’s biggest asset in limited-overs cricket, and among the most dangerous batters in the world. He topped the run-scoring charts for his team with 261 runs, which came at an average of 130.50 and a strike rate of 104.40.
The 32-year-old was dismissed for 36 runs in the first match, but he was absolutely superb in the next two games. Buttler struck an unbeaten 94 in the second match, before ending the series with a remarkable knock of 131 runs in the last game.
All-rounders
Moeen Ali (8/10): Moeen Ali had a mixed campaign, where he could not live up to the expectations England had in terms of his bowling performance, but made up for it with his batting contributions. He scored 103 runs at an average of 34.33 and a strike rate of 121.17, while with the ball, he picked up one wicket.
The all-rounder from Birmingham scored only 11 runs in the first ODI but did manage to pick up a wicket. While he could not add to his wickets tally any further, the next two games saw him recording scores of 51 and 41 respectively.
Sam Curran (7/10): Sam Curran might not have lived up to the high expectations, but he can be fairly satisfied with his performance, especially considering how most of England’s pace unit fared on the South African tracks. The all-rounder picked up 4 wickets at an economy rate of 5.57 runs per over, while he also scored 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Curran’s best performance came in the first match, where he picked up a three-wicket haul and doubled it up with a 17-run contribution with the bat. While he could only pick up 1 more wicket over the next two matches, the talented youngster made up for it by scoring 39 runs.
Chris Woakes (3/10): Like Duckett, Chris Woakes is one of the players who might have started sweating over their place in the team after a poor outing against South Africa. The pacer picked up only 1 wicket, while as for his batting, he scored 23 runs at a strike rate of 95.83.
The 33-year-old was not selected for the first match, whereas in the second, he went wicketless and scored 14 runs. He added 9 more runs to his career tally in the last match, but this time, he also had a wicket to show for it.
Bowlers
Adil Rashid (7/10): Adil Rashid was not among England’s most economical bowlers, but he was the second-highest wicket-taker for his side. The leg-spinner picked up 6 wickets at an economy rate of 6.50 runs per over and a bowling average of 32.50.
The Yorkshire-born player started the series with only 1 wicket in the first match, but eventually grew into it as he picked up 2 wickets in the second, and then 3 wickets in the third match. Besides that, he also scored 25 runs.
Reece Topley (1/10): Among those who could not contribute in any capacity to the team’s cause, Reece Topley’s name could come on top as the pacer failed to pick up any wickets in the two matches he played. To make matters worse, he leaked runs at a high economy rate of 7.62 runs per over.
Topley conceded 74 runs in the first match that he played, in Bloemfontein. Despite that, he was selected for the match in Kimberley but could not justify the team management’s trust as he conceded 48 runs without taking any wickets.
Jofra Archer (8/10): Jofra Archer made his comeback from a major injury only recently, but he has not wasted any time to prove why he remains England’s best bowler. The pacer picked up 7 wickets in the two matches he played, with his bowling average being only 17.28.
Archer conceded 81 runs but also picked up a wicket in his first match. The best performance, however, came in the match in Kimberley, where he picked up a six-wicket haul.
Olly Stone (6/10): Olly Stone was not the best among the English bowlers, but without any doubt, he was better than most of his teammates. He picked up 3 wickets in his two appearances, while also ensuring he does not leak more than 5 runs per over.
The Norwich-born player picked up 1 wicket by conceding 37 runs in his first match. Then in his second game, he conceded 48 runs but added 2 more wickets to his tally.
David Willey (3/10): It will be a bit harsh to rate David Willey, considering he did not get too many opportunities. The all-rounder only featured in the first match in Bloemfontein, where he conceded 38 runs without picking any wickets, and scored 8 runs.