LEEDS: Captain Eoin Morgan smashed a century and Moeen Ali hit a brisk unbeaten 77 as England scored a huge 339-6 against South Africa in their first One-day International here at Headingley on Wednesday.

Left-handed Morgan hit seven fours and five sixes in his 11th ODI century, his first hundred against South Africa, after A.B. de Villiers won the toss and opted to field.

Ali, another left-hander, needed only 51 balls to reach his total, hitting five fours and as many sixes as he lifted England’s total with a 117-run seventh-wicket stand with Morgan.

The performance was an ideal warm-up for England’s top-order batsmen ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy starting on June 1.

Alex Hales made 61 and Joe Root (37) looked good until he top-edged a bouncer from seamer Andile Phehlukwayo (2-59).

Morgan completed his century off 91 balls when he hooked fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for a six over long leg, before being caught in the covers in the 48th over.

Ali provided the innings with an ideal finish by lofting Chris Morris (2-61) over backward square leg for six as England scored 102 runs in the last 10 overs.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

J.J. Roy c de Kock b Parnell 1A.D. Hales c de Kock b Phehlukwayo 61J.E. Root c Amla b Phehlukwayo 37E.J.G. Morgan c Duminy b Morris 107B.A. Stokes c Miller b Rabada 25J.C. Buttler c Miller b Morris 7M.M. Ali not out 77C.R. Woakes not out 6

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-7, NB-4) 18

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 339

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-101, 3-122, 4-190, 5-198, 6-315.

DID NOT BAT: A.U. Rashid, L.E. Plunkett, M.A. Wood.

BOWLING: Rabada 9-0-63-1 (3nb, 3w); Parnell 7-0-47-1 (1w); Morris 10-1-61-1 (2w); Imran Tahir 9-0-68-0; Phehlukwayo 9-0-59-2 (1nb); Duminy 6-0-34-0 (1w).

SOUTH AFRICA: Q. de Kock, H.M. Amla, F. du Plessis, A.B. de Villiers, J.P. Duminy, D.A. Miller, W.D. Parnell, C.H. Morris, A.L. Phehlukwayo, K. Rabada, Imran Tahir.

UMPIRES: R.T. Robinson (England) and R.J. Tucker (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: C.B. Gaffaney (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: A.J. Pycroft (Zimbabwe).

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017