England’s middle order batted with precision as they posted 342-7 in the second ODI against South Africa in Bloemfontein

The Proteas summed up the conditions and decided to pick a changed lineup and chose to bowl first.

There were a lot of discussions amongst fans before the game, disagreeing with the coach’s choice to rest some players in a must-win game, particularly Sisanda Magala, who was the Player of the Match in the first ODI victory over England on the same strip.

The reason was cited as squad rotation amongst the bowlers, and this seemed understandable given the bowlers’ heavy workloads in the SA20 and with only 1 day of rest between these ODI fixtures.

The decision seemed a smart one with the movement that Parnell and Ngidi were exploiting in the opening overs on a relatively moist deck.

Ngidi struck and Parnell struck early to take out England’s opening pair, Jason Roy and Dawid Malan dismissed on 9 and 12 respectively. England was reduced to 33-2.

They found some momentum and then lost their when spin was introduced, Keshav Maharaj dismissing Ben Duckett as he was starting to settle to reduce England to 82-3.

Harry Brook started to find his rhythm and batted well as the pitch became easier to bat on. He scored at a strike rate of 106.66 and built his side a solid foundation with his 80 off 75 balls.

He got the side to 155-5 after 27.2 overs when Markram dismissed him at a crucial point in the match.

Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler batted beautifully to get themselves back into the match, but the omittance of Sisanda Magala duly missed in the middle overs. Moeen Ali batted excellently for his 51 off 45 deliveries and shared a Partnership of 101 off 85 balls.

Jos Buttler batted beautifully scoring 94 off 83 balls and helped England to 342/7 with help from Chris Woakes’ 14 and Sam Curran’s 28 off 17 balls.