SA v Eng 4th ODI Preview: South Africa aim to keep the series alive

South Africa showed that they were hungry to keep the series going when they pulled themselves up in a do or die situation and chased down a 300+ total and won their first match in the series.

England went up in the first two matches of the 5-match series emphatically and South Africa narrowly avoided a double series defeat at home in 14 years. The fourth ODI is at Johannesburg, a venue that has seen so many records being made in last 2 years, including the fastest ODI century, 3 centuries in a single ODI innings and a score of 400+ at a record strike rate.

“Once the two openers managed to get away from us their experience kicked in and it is a little bit of a lesson for our team as to how they went about the chase,” Eoin Morgan was reported saying during the match presentation after the last ODI.

South Africa:

South Africa should thank Quinton de Kock for his magnificent hundred and the timely return of Hashim Amla in form. Last time when an ODI was played at Johannesburg, we saw the fastest ODI century from AB de Villiers, but in the Test that was played there, Stuart Broad served a timely reminder to the Proteas of his abilities with a six-wicket haul, toppling South Africa to 83.

South Africa might look to keep Morne Morkel out of the team and give one of the other players a chance in his place. He has taken 4 wickets in the last two games. In another change, Rilee Rossouw could come in for Farhaan Behardien in the match. But all the eyes will be on Quinton de Kock who became the fastest and youngest batsman to reach 10 ODI centuries.

England:

Though England know they have the upper hand in the series, as they need just one more win to seal the series and they have Joe Root in-form and coach Trevor Bayliss hinting that Stuart Broad will replace one of the 3 fast bowlers who played the second ODI.

Broad’s return in the team will be a huge boost to the English bowling as the ground and pitch is expected to be as flat as it can get and Broad knows how to bowl on such pitches and succeed. As far as batting goes, Eoin Morgan might look to get some batting under his belt in order to get into the T20 form.

Probable XI:

South Africa:

Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (WK), Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Farhan Behardien/Rilee Rossouw, David Wiese, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Kyle Abbott, Imran Tahir

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (C), Jos Buttler (WK), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Chris Jordan/Stuart Broad, David Willey, Reece Topley

Pitch:

The pitch looks hard and dry with plenty of bounce which often provides lots of seam movement up front. Expect high scoring games if batsmen from both the teams settle in quickly.