England bounced back very well in the first ODI against South Africa after their test series loss (2 – 1) to England. England won the toss at Headingley and elected to bat first in the first day night encounter. The pitch was bouncy and suiting the conditions of England. The opening batsmen of England Bell and prior played sensibly and steadily and gave a good opening to England. The pair survived the initial scare from the South African speedsters and put on a 77 run partnership. This laid the foundation for the England innings.

After the opening partnership, two wickets fell in succession and then the middle order of England came to the rescue. Kevin pietersen and Flintoff put on a 158 run partnership which is the key for the win. The partnership was very delighting to watch as both the aggressive batsmen started off their innings cautiously but then started playing their strokes later. It was a patient batting performance and England managed to put 275 for the loss of 4 wickets at the end of 50 over.

In reply, South Africa opened their innings steadily and put on a 50 run opening partnership when the South African captain caught by the keeper Prior of Harmison bowling. This started the demise of the South Africa. The difference between the teams was the performance of the middle order. The South African middle order failed. Kallis scored a valiant knock of 52 before he was run out. This was the turning point of the entire match in the 29th over when the score was 149.

From this point on, there was no steady batting, wickets were falling regularly and in the later stages of the innings, there were no batsmen to capitalise and Flintoff finished the South African line up in the 49th over. England won the match by a margin of 20 runs. The pitch was a good batting track all along the match.

The newly appointed England captain Kevin Pietersen played a captain’s innings and was unbeaten on 90 runs. Kevin Pietersen was chosen as the player of the match for his batting performance which guided England to its first emphatic win against South Africa in the NatWest series. England leads the series 1 – 0.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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