England skipper Harry Brook said his side “could have gone a little bit harder”, despite a batting collapse in the first ODI against South Africa on Tuesday (September 2).
South Africa won the toss, chose to field first, and made light work of England's batting lineup at Headingley. Notably, four members of their XI – Brook, Adil Rashid, Joe Root and Will Jacks – had been involved in the final stages of the Hundred, which had concluded two days prior to the start of the series.
Nandre Burger and Lungi Ngidi drew first blood, getting rid of Ben Duckett and Root for five and 14 respectively. Jamie Smith made his way to 54, but the next highest score was Jos Buttler's 15 as Wiaan Mulder and Keshav Maharaj shared seven wickets, to skittle England for 131. The hosts' innings did not last even 25 overs. South Africa duly completed their chase with seven wickets and 175 deliveries to spare, completing a chastising defeat for England.
Much of the focus was on their approach with the bat, which has been in question in this format for some time. Former batter Mark Butcher said after the game that this lineup did not have the “absorption button” required for 50-over cricket.
1st ODI, England vs South Africa
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Brook: The more positive you are, sometimes you get away with more
Brook was far more upbeat about his team's approach following the game: “In my opinion, we probably could have gone a little bit harder with the bat and tried to put them under a little bit more pressure. The more positive you are and aggressive you are as a batter, sometimes you get away with more stuff.”
Indeed, of England's top seven, only Smith could be described as being out to a genuinely aggressive shot, and he had made 54 by that point. Brook himself was run out, while Duckett, Root and Buttler all poked at deliveries outside off stump to nick behind. Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks were rather undone by Keshav Maharaj's guile, and their dismissals perhaps spoke more to England's broader struggles against spin bowling, than a tempo issue.
South Africa opener Aiden Markram's approach could not be called significantly different from England's, either. He slammed 86 off 55 balls, going after the bowling and ensuring that debutant quick Sonny Baker had a torrid time of things. All this with the caveat of course, that Markram knew there was only a small target to be achieved.
Read more: Sonny Baker's unwanted debut record headlines England's latest ODI horror show
“A lot of teams would make excuses but we are not one. We have to put that behind us and crack onto the next game,” Brook added, as quoted by the BBC. “At the end we almost used it as a practice session once we knew the game was dead. Lads were practising their skills.”
This was Brook's first defeat since being made England's full-time white-ball captain earlier this year. Earlier this summer, in his first assignment, they completed a 6-0 clean sweep of both the ODIs and T20Is over the West Indies.
The next two matches in this ODI series will take place on September 4 at Lord's and September 7 at the Rose Bowl. The focus then shifts to the T20 format, with three matches scheduled from September 10 to 14, which will serve as another step of preparation for the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early next year.
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