England suffered a convincing 7-wicket defeat in the first ODI of the three-match series against South Africa on Tuesday. The visitors were completely dominant over the hosts, who got outclassed in both the batting and bowling departments. The victory saw Temba Bavuma & Co. take a 1-0 lead in the series and they will have a chance to seal it in the second one-day match.
After being invited to bat first, England's batting order was decimated by the South African bowling attack. The wickets kept on falling at regular intervals as no batter except Jamie Smith managed to cross the 20-run mark. The Three Lions would eventually be bundled out for just 131 runs as Keshav Maharaj (4/22) and Wiaan Mulder (3/33) proved to be too good. Notably, this is England's seventh-lowest ODI total on home soil.
Following the conclusion of the match, legendary South Africa seamer Shaun Pollock slammed Harry Brook & Co. and stated that their mindset isn't at the right place. He added that the batters have to drastically improve their batting performance.
“Your mindset for cricket is not quite in the right place. One thing for me is that one-day cricket is becoming tournament cricket. You have to perform on the day. There is no we will write this off and move on to the next one. How can we still be competitive in this game and not be bowled out for 130?" Pollock said on Sky Cricket.
Atherton was also critical of the batters
On the other hand, former England captain Michael Atherton pointed out that the England team had no time to prepare for the South Africa series as most of their players were involved in The Hundred. However, he further remarked that this is a reminder for the team that there is a big difference of quality between international cricket and franchise cricket.
"England, without question, have been caught cold. South Africa look like a side who have been together playing serious international cricket. England's players have been through a month of The Hundred - the eliminator and finals were this weekend - so they arrived in dribs and drabs to Headingley. They've had no chance for preparation, they're playing a completely different format - and it showed," Atherton stated after the match.
"It's a sharp reminder that England need to get switched on to international cricket, which is of a different level and intensity - as Sonny Baker found out - than franchise cricket. And they've got to adjust to 50-over cricket, which again demands a different tempo and length than the 100-ball format they've been playing," he added.
Meanwhile, the second ODI of the series between England and South Africa is set to be played on September 4 at Lord's. The hosts have to record a victory in this encounter to keep the series alive otherwise the Proteas will go on to clinch it without even playing the third game.