LONDON: Harry Brook urged England’s multi-format cricketers to press on amid a gruelling schedule following another loss to South Africa.
White-ball captain Brook and England team-mates Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith were all involved throughout a draining drawn Test series with India before going straight into the Hundred.
No sooner had that domestic event finished then they were all back on England duty, having to adapt to the very different demands of One-day International cricket against a hardened and talented South Africa side.
England duly suffered a seven-wicket thrashing in Tuesday’s series opener at Headingley, after collapsing to an embarrassing 131 all out.
But they put up a much better fight at Lord’s on Thursday before losing by just five runs, chasing 331 to win, in a match that went all the way to the last ball.
South Africa now have an unassailable 2-0 lead in a three-match series ahead of Sunday’s finale in Southampton.
South Africa’s Matthew Breetzke scored 85 and shared in a 147-run fourth-wicket partnership with Tristan Stubbs as South Africa recovered from losing three quick wickets.
Breetzke became the first player to score half centuries in each of his first five ODI appearances.
Tasked with pulling off a record ODI run chase at Lord’s, England lost Jamie Smith first ball but fluent partnerships between Joe Root and Jacob Bethell (58) and then Harry Brook (33) and Joss Buttler kept them in the hunt.
When Buttler was bowled by a magical slow ball from Lungi Ngidi for 61, the same score that Root had scored before being stumped off the bowling of spinner Keshav Maharaj (2-59), South Africa were in the driving seat.
Will Jacks responded with some big hitting until he was dismissed for 39 to leave England’s hopes of an improbable victory looking forlorn.
Some courageous late hitting by Jofra Archer (27 not out), including two sixes, induced some South African jitters but England ended on 325-9.
The teams will also play three Twenty20 internationals before England, with a refreshed squad, travel to Ireland for a further three T20s.
Brook, however, rejected suggestions England should now rest their leading Test players, particularly a spent-looking Duckett, ahead of a showpiece Test series in Australia starting in November.
“I’m not selecting the Ashes side, that’s up to (Ben) Stokesy and Baz (Brendon McCullum),” he said, referring to England’s red-ball captain and head coach.
“We want to try and play our strongest side in every white-ball game. We’ve World Cups coming up — the T20 World Cup this winter and the one-day World Cup the following winter.
“It’s easy to say that (we’re tired), but in my eyes that’s just an excuse. We’re good enough and fit enough to be able to keep playing for the time being.”
Brook, meanwhile, was heartened by England’s improved batting display at Lord’s following their woeful showing at his Yorkshire home ground two days earlier.
“We felt they (South Africa) were 10 or 15 above par, so it was a very good effort for us to get within one blow of their score,” he said.
England’s hopes of a series-levelling win, however, were compromised by occasional spinners Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks being thrashed for 112 runs in a combined 10 overs.
“I probably got it wrong on one occasion when I bowled Jacksy from the Pavilion End to the right-handers hitting it down the hill,” said Brook. It was a gamble, and the gamble didn’t pay off.”
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA:
A. Markram c&b Rashid 49
R. Rickelton c Buttler b Archer 35
T. Bavuma c Buttler b Rashid 4
M. Breetzke lbw Archer 85
T. Stubbs run out 58
D. Brevis c Rashid b Bethell 42
C. Bosch not out 32
S. Muthusamy lbw Archer 7
K. Maharaj b Archer 1
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-15) 17
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 330
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-73 (Rickelton), 2-78 (Bavuma), 3-93 (Markram), 4-240 (Breetzke), 5-259 (Stubbs), 6-297 (Brevis), 7-326 (Muthusamy), 8-330 (Maharaj)
DID NOT BAT: N. Burger, L. Ngidi
BOWLING: Archer 10-0-62-4 (3w), Mahmood 10-1-53-0 (2w), Carse 10-0-68-0 (2w), Rashid 10-1-33-2, Bethell 5-0-61-1 (3w), Jacks 5-0-51-0 (2w)
ENGLAND:
J. Smith c Rickelton b Burger 0
B. Duckett b Maharaj 14
J. Root st Rickelton b Maharaj 61
J. Bethell c Brevis b Bosch 58
H. Brook c Bavuma b Muthusamy 33
J. Buttler b Ngidi 61
W. Jacks c Maharaj b Burger 39
B. Carse c Markram b Burger 7
J. Archer not out 27
A. Rashid run out 2
S. Mahmood not out 2
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-3, W-16) 21
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 325
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Smith), 2-66 (Duckett), 3-143 (Bethell), 4-147 (Root), 5-216 (Brook), 6-256 (Buttler), 7-288 (Carse), 8-290 (Jacks), 9-313 (Rashid)
BOWLING: Burger 10-0-63-3 (4w), Ngidi 10-0-72-1 (4w), Bosch 10-1-38-1, Maharaj 10-0-59-2, Markram 2-0-27-0, Muthusamy 8-0-61-1
RESULT: South Africa won by five runs.
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Matthew Breetzke
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2025