England vs South Africa 2017: 1st ODI, 5 Talking Points
A collapse of the South African middle-order and a magnificent hundred from Eoin Morgan helped England overcome the Proteas by 72 runs in the first ODI at Leeds. Put in to bat, England rode on a Hales-Root partnership initially before Andile Phehlukwayo broke through with twin strikes.
Stokes and Buttler departed in the space of 10 balls and England looked like they would fall well short of 300. But Eoin Morgan and Moeen Ali put on a riveting 117 run stand in 13 overs. Morgan raced to a fine 100, while Ali, after a shaky start, took England to 339 with some powerful strikes towards the end.
South Africa found their own stable pair at the top in Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis but like Hales and Root, the duo fell in quick succession to leave de Villiers with too much work to do. He was offered no support by the trio of JP Duminy, David Miller and Chris Morris as all of them were dismissed off poor strokes.
Eventually, the asking rate became too steep and de Villiers was forced to go big, resulting in his dismissal. A few lusty blows from Parnell and Rabada only delayed the inevitable as England romped home by 72 runs.
Brief Scores: England 339/6 (Morgan 107, Ali 77, Phehlukwayo 2/59) beat South Africa 267/10 (Amla 73, du Plessis 67, Woakes 4/38)
Take a look at the talking points from the first One Day International at Leeds.
#5 Alex Hales gets a healthy workout
England know that heading into the Champions Trophy, Alex Hales is a vital member of their squad. With the ability to accelerate the innings at the start, anchor in the middle-overs, and lambast in the death, Hales is the complete package. However, he has not featured as much as England would have liked since his return from injury.
But the aggressive opener showed little signs of rust as he dug into Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell, smashing the latter for two boundaries in an over. Root did not look at his best, but gave Hales good company as the opener ensured England were well on top during his stay at the crease. He cracked his eighth half-century but fell on 61.