Van der Dussen set the tone and bowlers stuck to their plans: South Africa captain Maharaj after 1st ODI win – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

South Africa ODI captain Keshav Maharaj was full of praise for teammate Rassie van der Dussen as the batter’s century guided his team to a comprehensive win over England in the first ODI.

Van der Dussen scored 133 off 117 balls as the visitors put up a total of 333/5 batting first in the opening encounter of the three-game series at Chester-le-Street. Janneman Malan (57) and Aiden Markram (77) also made useful contributions to the total.

In reply, England were bowled out for 271 to lose Ben Stokes’ last ODI by 62 runs.

Skipper Maharaj praised Van der Dussen and the bowlers after a winning start to the series and also talked about the hot conditions in England.

“Rassie set the tone and the bowlers stuck to their plans. Full credit to the team. We didn’t expect the heatwave in England but it felt a bit like home. It was really hot but luckily enough there were no casualties on the field,” Maharaj said after the match.

“Quinny and Janneman set the platform and Rassie played a special innings. Partnerships were the key.”

Hosts captain Jos Buttler also admitted that South Africa batters were too good on the day.

“Tough day. The efforts were outstanding to field first in that heat. It was a good toss to win and we couldn’t find those breakthroughs. A fantastic partnership. You need to take wickets to stem the flow in this format but they ran well and put us under pressure. We never quite managed to impose ourselves and the wicket got slower and lower, and tougher to time the ball,” Buttler said.

“I don’t think it was a lack of effort. South Africa read the conditions well and were smart with the way they bowled.

Buttler also spoke about Stokes at the end of the match and thanked the all-rounder for his contributions to ODI cricket.

“From all England fans, we want to say thank you for all that he’s done for this team. He’s been a fantastic ambassador in ODI cricket and we’ll miss him,” he said.

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