CENTURION: Time is running out for South Africa and they surely wouldn’t want another series-loss against England as the desperate hosts seek win in the third One-day International at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday to keep the five-match series alive.

If it was Jos Buttler’s belligerence that handed South Africa a defeat in the first ODI last week, it was Alex Hales, who ensured that the hosts have to wait a bit longer to return to winning ways, by taking England to a five-wicket win in the second game in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

South Africa are keen to end this run and get back to winning ways.

“England are a good side. They are playing some good cricket at the moment, they look confident but they are not unbeatable,” said South Africa skipper A.B. de Villiers told reporters.

South Africa have done well as a batting unit but the bowlers need to pick themselves up. A below par performance allowed England to post 399 in the first game and then in the second game, after having England at 202-5, they failed to close the game and ended up conceding the match with 3.4 overs to spare.

The biggest positive for the home team in the second match was the way de Villiers went about his business. South Africa were 98-3 and he built a 107-run stand with J.P. Duminy. He was again undone by some brilliant fielding and his promising innings was cut short after a 91-ball 73.

England, on the other hand, have had a very successful tour so far and would want to add another trophy before leaving the country. Left-armers Reece Topley and David Willey have been very impressive with the new ball while all-rounder Ben Stokes has come on to his own on this tour.

South Africa have a tough task ahead of them to stop England but if the kind of arsenal they have click in what promises to be a cracking contest.

Teams (from):

SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, A.B. de Villiers (captain), J.P. Duminy, Rilee Rossouw, Farhaan Behardien, Chris Morris, Morne Morkel, Marchant de Lange, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Kyle Abbott, Kagiso Rabada, David Wiese.

ENGLAND: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Reece Topley, James Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett.

Umpires: Johan Cloete (South Africa) and Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand).

TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka).

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (India).

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016