England v South Africa - 5th ODI - NatWest Series 2012 - Match Preview
After squandering two chances to win the NatWest series and losing their short stint on the top of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 at Trent Bridge on September
5, 2012.
The tourists have been unconvincing and failed to strike the right balance with which they dominated the Test series, and allowed the hosts to do just enough to go over the line.
The victory at Lord’s at least ensured that the hosts would remain undefeated in an ODI series at home for another year; stretching their unbeaten run since http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 beat them in 2009. England managed to regain their number one ranking in the ODIs and would
definitely go into the final match with an upper-hand over the visitors.
Despite the failures of Alastair Cook and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Eoin-Joseph-Gerard-Morgan-c56032 have held the batting lineup well but the English management will be eager to see its struggling batsmen finish the series on a high note.
The hosts however, are expected to be without the services of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/IJL-Trott-c1576, who has so far played a key role in the series, after the right-handed batsman suffered a fracture in his right hand following a delivery from Dale Steyn.
The absence of the stalwart could open another window of opportunity for the in-form Jonny Bairstow, who excelled in a similar role in the Lord’s Test. Chris Woakes, 23, could also make it to the final-eleven given his skills with both, ball and the bat.
On the bowling front, Jade Dernbach, James Anderson and James Tredwell have been in impressive form and would like to continue it in the final match.
For South Africa, their middle-order has been their soft underbelly which has let them down in the series so far. The team has dearly missed http://www.senore.com/Cricket/HM-Amla-c1557, the most successful batsman of the series, remains
the only stand-out for the visitors.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/JP-Duminy-c1742, Robin Peterson, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar and skipper AB de Villiers have so far remained below-par in the series and the Proteas captain feels that senior players will have to take control of the situation.
“I've seen them win matches for their teams back home on the big stage in finals and stuff like that. But they are inexperienced and when you have inexperience in your team you need the senior players to take control, including myself," http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AB-de-Villiers-c887 said.
The Proteas may not have any major concerns in their bowling department but they definitely lacked the bite it exhibited in the Test series. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LL-Tsotsobe-c1842 has remained the weakest link for the visitors and is expected to be replaced by Morne Morkel, who
is just three wickets short of reaching 100 ODI wickets.
The weather is expected to remain ‘warm’ and ‘sunny’ but dew may come into play under the floodlights.
England Squad:
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ST-Finn-c2566, Jade Dernbach.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 Squad:
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Morkel-c73528.
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