Rassie van der Dussen and Sisanda Magala React to Proteas victory over England | 1st ODI Bloem

The Proteas produced a comeback for the ages to defeat England by 27 runs in the first of three ODI matches at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday. | ✍️ Avuyile Sawula

Entering the match with pressure mounting on the side, having won just 6 out of 15 matches, the South Africans showed grit and fight as they bowled out England for 271 runs after posting 298/7 in their first innings.

The stand-out players for the home side were Sisanda Magala and Rassie van der Dussen, with both players producing prolific numbers with ball and bat.

Van der Dussen, who scored 111 runs in 117 balls with a strike rate of 94.87, said beating England would give the side a confidence boost as they look to take it one match at a time.

“Whenever you beat England, I think it gives you great confidence, obviously, they’re the world champions, so to beat them is always a feather in our cap as a team,” he said.

“We’re not thinking about that qualification, if we need to go qualify, we’ll qualify; if we end up winning two or three more games out of the matches left, then that’s also okay, we’re taking it game by game.”

With the batters laying the foundation, it was up to the Proteas’ bowling attack to try and restrict the English batting line-up, a task that proved difficult at first.

Skipper Temba Bavuma then turned to Sisanda Magala, who claimed three wickets and conceded just 46 runs in his nine overs, with an economy rate of 5.11 to claim the man of the match award.

He expressed how excited he was to bowl against England and how they managed to defend their total.

“I was nervous because of how England plays, their style, and their brand, but I was also excited and just wanted to let that first ball go, and then everything will be fine,” Magala said.

“We were lucky enough to not allow them to get a lot of big partnerships, especially after the first one. “I think getting wickets at crucial times helped us maintain momentum and gave us confidence that we could defend the score; the currency was wickets, and we kept getting a lot of them.”

He added: “At the end of the day, when I play cricket, I just want to contribute as much as I can toward the team, so if I played a hand in that, I’m happy.”