It was a series of limp, lifeless defeats at a World Cup that proved the catalyst for a new era of English ODI excellence eight years ago. None, though, were as empathic as this one, which surely confirms its end.
Comfortably beaten by New Zealand and Afghanistan in two of their opening three matches, England were on the receiving end of something nowhere near as polite in their fourth, simply eviscerated by an outstanding South Africa in Mumbai.
Asked, bizarrely, to bat first, Reeza Hendricks’s 85 and Rassie van der Dussen’s half-century laid a solid but swift foundation, before Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen went berserk, the former’s 109 from just 67 balls a contender for the innings of the tournament and the headline in a total of 399 for seven
In reply, England’s top six folded inside 12 overs, only a tail-end hit out from Mark Wood and World Cup debutant Gus Atkinson limiting - yes, limiting - the damage to a 229-run shellacking, the reigning champions’ heaviest ever loss in ODIs.
England are not out of this tournament yet but to lay out the permutations that could yet make them semi-finalists seems folly after a performance likes this. With five group stage matches to come, Buttler’s men look a side broken beyond immediate repair.
Make no mistake, this was their roll of the dice. Three changes to the XI saw its balance flipped, the reliance on all-rounders shelved as not only the fit-again Ben Stokes was drafted in but also David Willey and Atkinson, all 15 players now into action less than halfway through the group stage. Four years ago, with Eoin Morgan’s soon-to-be champion side so much more settled, Tom Curran and Liam Dawson never got off the bench.
England’s call to pack their bowling with specialists made some sense given the struggles of Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, but Buttler’s decision at the toss was, to put it kindly, absurd. With first use of a corking batting track there for the taking, and the chance to apply the kind of scoreboard pressure that might embolden a weak-suit attack, the skipper chose instead to bowl first again. Whatever England’s opinion of themselves as a chasing team, their recent record disagrees and by the end of a horrifically humid four-hour stint in the field they went into this attempt a sweaty, spent force. That they had also conceded more runs than ever before in an ODI hardly helped either.
And to think now, that things had begun rather encouragingly. Quinton de Kock, scorer of two hundreds already in this tournament, fell second ball to Reece Topley, while Hendricks, brought in late doors for ill captain Temba Bavuma, started slowly against the new ball.
By the end of the powerplay, though, both he and Van Der Dussen were purring, a stand of 121 from 116 balls small fry compared to what was to come, but setting the game up for a destructive middle-order perfectly.
Only England’s walking wounded kept them in it through the middle overs. Adil Rashid had been visibly struggling with an upset stomach, while Topley required a lengthy spell off the field having hurt a digit fielding in his follow through early on. The left-armer returned to bowl with his index and middle fingers taped together, while Rashid looked like he, too, could have done with something adhesive to keep his insides secure, but both battled manfully, claiming the only five wickets to fall before Atkinson’s pair in final over offered the consolatory prize of keeping the Proteas below of 400.
That they got so close was in large part down to Klaasen, the form white-ball batter in the world. Seemingly on the brink of collapse in sweltering conditions, there was a Stokesian quality to the 32-year-old’s knock, dripping on his haunches, then launching sixes into the stands, a shell of a men one moment, a destroyer of men the next.
Jansen, supposedly the entry point to a long South African tail, played a wonderful, belligerent late hand, striking 75 from 42 balls in a partnership worth twice that as Wood’s pace went around the park and Willey, once his cramping legs carried him to the crease, travelled the distance, too. In all, the final ten overs coughed up 143 runs.
Any hope of the most unfathomable of chases was reliant on a flying start, and one duly arrived. Unfortunately, South Africa were the exponents.
Inside the powerplay, England’s top four were gone, Jonny Bairstow caught on the boundary, Dawid Malan and Joe Root both erring down the leg-side against the excellent Jansen, before Stokes’s first World Cup innings since his 2019 final epic came and went in a flash, sharply caught by Kagiso Rabada off his own bowling. Harry Brook and Buttler, the two surviving recognised bats, were not far behind, falling to Gerald Coetzee in the space of three balls.
After their own wobble against the Netherlands, South Africa are back to looking a side who could go all the way. Where England go from here is anyone’s guess.
