James Anderson took five wickets and Jonathon Trott hit an unbeaten half-century to lead England to a seven-wicket win over South Africa and an unassailable 2-1 lead in the ODI series.
The Proteas were bowled out for 119 in under 37 overs after winning the toss with Anderson taking a career-best 5-23, and openers Trott (52 not out) and Andrew Strauss (32) starred with the bat as England won with almost 19 overs left.
Anderson, who won the man-of-the-match award, said having a pitch that helped the bowlers had made a difference at St. George’s Park Stadium.
“You couldn’t bowl short in Cape Town, the wicket was flat. Here we bowled good lines but we had a wicket which helped us,” he said.
Proteas captain Graeme Smith said his side had not assessed the conditions well enough at the start of the game, and that a score of 230 or 240 might have been defendable on a pitch that was two-paced and had a bit of up-and-down bounce.
“No-one put in the hard yards with the bat,” Smith said.
The last ODI in the five-match series is on Friday in Durban. The first match was washed out.
Strauss became the first of off-spinner Johan Botha’s two wickets when the ball hit his pad off an attempted cut shot and he was adjudged lbw. Strauss faced 59 balls and hit six fours.
Botha struck again within five balls as he induced Kevin Pietersen on 3 to flick a ball straight to A.B. de Villiers at midwicket. Botha finished with 2-22, while Ryan McLaren found in-form Paul Collingwood’s outside edge for a catch behind.
Collingwood’s departure for 2 meant England had lost 3-9 in five overs, but Trott and Eoin Morgan (28 not out off 40 balls) steered the visitors home. Trott hit seven fours in 77 balls, while Morgan reached the boundary five times.
South Africa’s innings started badly, with Smith lasting just four balls before he was trapped in front for 2 by Stuart Broad in the second over.
The England seamers, making use of overcast conditions, struck three more times in the first 14 overs. The visitors put pressure on the batsmen by keeping the runs down and gained more success.
Hashim Amla, trying to force the pace off Anderson, turned one straight to Graeme Swann at short midwicket. Amla, coming off successive half-centuries at Centurion and Newlands, scored 11 off 22 balls with two fours.
Anderson also bagged the wickets of J.P. Duminy, Mark Boucher, McLaren and Botha. Duminy gloved a ball down leg-side to wicketkeeper Matt Prior for 6, Boucher was beaten off the pitch by a beauty to be bowled for 13, and McLaren chipped one to Paul Collingwood at point and was out for his second duck in two games.
Botha was caught behind for 1, as Anderson completed his 10 overs by the 27th over of the innings.
With a bit of help from the pitch and showing good discipline, the England bowlers were well marshalled by Strauss to kill any hopes of a repeat of South Africa’s batting masterclass in scoring 354-6 at Newlands two days ago.
Anderson claimed 3-6 in his four-over second spell, and the hapless Proteas added only six runs for the loss of three wickers between the 21st and 27th overs.
Alviro Petersen hit 51 for his third straight half-century, adding to his 64 at Centurion and 51 not out at Newlands. He started with the score on 35-3 and hit five fours before being the last man out, well caught at mid-on by a leaping Luke Wright.
The only other batsman to score more than 13 was De Villiers. He managed only 22 off 36 balls with four boundaries until he was trapped in front by Tim Bresnan.
Of the other England bowlers, Broad finished with 2-30 after also dismissing Petersen. Collingwood claimed 2-20 to take his ODI tally to 101 wickets.
