The last match of SA v Eng was a historic match because of so many thrillers and unbelievable performances of last order batsmen from both sides. England was at 87/1 then that was looking England took the victory then suddenly five more dismissals at 108/6 then look like SA gain the victory but with JE Root 109 runs took England again too far from a loss.
During South African batting 210 runs with fall of eight wickets South African batsmen had not stopped the hitting and reached the level with fall of nine wickets and in the end, South Africa won by 1 wicket (with 16 balls remaining). So the England team does many mistakes in fielding because of pressure and a little bit of happiness of victory but SA managed well enough in the end with a very brave performance and some good luck.
Now South Africa leveled the series with 2-2 and today is the very big day for both teams because today is the final match from the ODI series and it’s time to play good and take the victory of the series for both teams. After finding a winning XI for the second time, South Africa may be tempted to stick with it but the problems in the middle order could see changes.
JP Duminy and Farhaan Behardien are under pressure from David Miller and Rilee Rossouw and at least one change could take place. The two allrounders, David Wiese and Chris Morris, should keep their spots, with Morne Morkel’s international season likely over given his exclusion from the last match and the T20 squads.
The sense from the England management is that the same group of players will be given the chance to atone for missing out in Johannesburg, which would mean James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow sitting on the sidelines throughout. Stuart Broad’s ODI return went from promising (a wicket with his sixth ball) to demoralising (being hit for 15 from four balls by Morris with the game in the balance) and there might be a temptation to bring back David Willey.
Pitch
The decider will be played on a pitch where scores have been low over the last couple of games. Newlands has only hosted two ODIs since 2009 and South Africa lost them both. They were bowled out for 220 against India in January 2011 and for 195, chasing 219, against Pakistan in November 2013. A slow, perhaps sticky surface awaits, where pace off the ball could be important. Cooler temperatures are sweeping through the west coast with Sunday forecast at just 24 degrees and chances of morning drizzle.
South Africa team 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy/David Miller, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 David Wiese, 8 Chris Morris, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Kyle Abbott, 11 Imran Tahir
England team 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Stuart Broad/David Willey, 11 Reece Topley
Match scheduled to begin at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT)
