De Kock, Amla tons help Proteas thrash England in third ODI

Stuart Broad looks set to play his first one-day global for 11 months when England take on South Africa on Friday.

England’s winning streak came to an abrupt halt with Tuesday’s seven-wicket defeat, as Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla’s centuries cancelled out Joe Root’s ton and reduced South Africa’s one-day global series deficit to 2-1.

Morgan cited England’s consistent batting, en route to 318 for eight, as reason to keep the faith with his evolving team – but admitted they never got a foothold with the ball, as De Kock and Amla put on 239 in 36.5 overs.

It was the 23-year-old’s fourth ODI century in six innings, and he has become South Africa’s danger-man at the top of the order.

However, they have been comprehensively outplayed in the first two games, starting with England’s bold batting in Bloemfontein and then their bowlers restricting South Africa to 262, despite losing the toss in Port Elizabeth.

Senior pro Amla, meanwhile, registered his 22nd century in ODIs, and third on the trot at Centurion Park.

Earlier, Root eased to his seventh ODI century with a masterful show of energy and placement, hitting 10 fours and 5 sixes.

Alex Hales backed up his 99 in the second game with 65 on this occasion, and Ben Stokes’ brisk 53 from 37 balls propelled England beyond the 300-mark.

But Stokes raced to his fifty in 33 balls – and, despite a rush of late wickets as Kyle Abbott took two in two, there was still a big finish from England’s tail-enders.

That would be another notable success for Trevor Bayliss, England’s Australian coach, who added success in the Test series here to last summer’s surprise Ashes victory against his homeland.

Time ticked by, with England using up their review on a failed catch behind, and De Kock went to 100 at a slightly slower rate than Root had.

On each of those occasions, though, it was white-ball consolation for Test failure; this time, England are on course to beat South Africa in both formats – something no tourists have done here since Australia in 2001/02 – not to mention the two Twenty20s still to come.

“We’re out to win, get some momentum and then hope to win in Cape Town as well”.

South Africa captain AB de Villiers: “We needed that win, and I thought the boys played really well”.

“I think it is important for us to focus on the processes rather than the outcome”, he said.

“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”, he said. At one point, a total of 350 was on the cards, but Root ran himself out in the 43 over in a mix-up with Stokes.

He added: “It’s gone quite well for me personally, but the bottom line is we’re 2-0 up – which is the more satisfying thing”.