England's troubles began with a wrong decision at the toss, followed by a poor bowling performance.
England suffered their most significant ODI loss during the Cricket World Cup against South Africa. The rampant South African team left England’s World Cup title defence in disarray. South Africa set a huge total of 399/7, the second-highest in this year’s World Cup (with the first belonging to the Proteas). England’s famed batting lineup succumbed to South African pace, being bowled out for just 170 runs in 22 overs.
South Africa’s victory over England is now the sixth-highest margin of victory in terms of runs. England, a team that had won the last two white-ball ICC tournaments, found themselves at their lowest point in this competition, currently ranking ninth out of ten teams. England’s troubles began with a wrong decision at the toss, followed by a poor bowling performance. However, what added to England’s humiliation was a dramatic batting collapse on a surface that favoured batsmen. This collapse saw Jos Buttler’s team reduced to 170 for nine in 22 overs. It was only due to a 70-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Mark Wood (43 not out) and Gus Atkinson (35) that England’s loss didn’t go down as one of the worst in the history of ODI cricket. Reece Topley was unavailable to bat.
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Even the return of Ben Stokes, considered their ‘spiritual leader,’ had no impact as he played his first game in this World Cup since coming out of retirement. Adding to the catastrophic defeat, Buttler’s decision to bowl first in extremely humid conditions is likely to haunt them, given their recent poor record of chasing, with only three wins in 11 matches since January 2022. The batting woes continued as Jonny Bairstow (10), Joe Root (2), and Dawid Malan (6) all fell early. Stokes (5) also couldn’t make an impact before being dismissed. Gerald Coetzee (3/35) added to England’s misery by taking the wickets of Harry Brook (17), Buttler (15), and Adil Rashid (10).
South Africa’s innings was propelled by Heinrich Klaasen, who scored a remarkable century in extremely humid conditions. Klaasen’s century, along with Rassie van der Dussen (60) and Marco Jansen’s unbeaten 75, allowed South Africa to post their highest total against England in a World Cup match. Klaasen and Jansen’s partnership of 151 runs for the sixth wicket in just 77 balls set a record for South Africa against England in ODIs and World Cup history. In the final 10 overs, England’s bowling performance deteriorated, with South Africa scoring 143 runs, while the last five overs alone yielded 84 runs for the Proteas.
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