On Saturday, September 6, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the playing XI of the England National Cricket Team for the third ODI against the South Africa National Cricket Team.
The third and final ODI match of the series between the Three Lions and the Proteas is scheduled to be played at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on September 7.
England make one change for the 3rd ODI
The Harry Brook-led England are trailing the ODI series by 0-2 and would be looking to deliver a good performance in the final match to avoid a whitewash at the hands of Temba Bavuma & Co.
England suffered a humiliating 7-wicket defeat in the ODI series-opener at Headingley in Leeds. They were bundled for 131 while batting first and allowed the run-chase to be completed in 20.5 overs.
In the second ODI, Harry Brook & Co. played impressive cricket, but ended up facing a 5-run loss. While bowling first, England allowed South Africa to post 330/8, and then they were unable to chase the target, getting restricted to 325/9.
Notably, it was the first ODI series win for South Africa in England since 1998, and the last time the English team won a bilateral ODI series against the Proteas was in 2017.
Talking about the third ODI, England have made just one change to the playing XI with Surrey all-rounder Jamie Overton replacing pacer Saqib Mahmood.
Apart from that, there is no change as Jamie Smith will continue to open with Ben Duckett, with Joe Root and Harry Brook batting at No.3 and No.4. Jos Buttler will be handling the wicket-keeping duties while Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks will be looking to make all-round contributions. Also, Jofra Archer will be leading the pace bowling attack.
England Playing XI For 3rd ODI Against South Africa
Playing XI: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, and Adil Rashid
We were quite unlucky – Harry Brook on the 2nd ODI loss
After losing the second ODI, Harry Brook said that they were quite unlucky in the powerplay and opined that South Africa posted 10-15 runs too many. Harry Brook stated:
“They probably got 10-15 too many, to get within one blow of that score was a great effort. (Bethell at 4) Was just to unsettle their spinners. They had two left-arm spinners, tried to keep the right and left hand combo.
“We were quite unlucky in the powerplay, lots of plays and misses, couple of LBWs did not go our way. (plans for next game) Minute improvements, was a great effort from the lads today.”
Notably, the Three Lions have been awful in ODIs since 2023 as they have won just 1 out of 6 bilateral ODI series post the 50-over World Cup. They have a win percentage of 31.8 in this period.