South Africa vs England 2020 ODI series: High-flying England eye glory against new-look South Africa

England will be looking to continue their dominance over the low-on-confidence South African side when they will meet in the three-match ODI series, starting from February 4 in Cape Town.

The second game of the one-day series will be played at Kingsmead in Durban on 7^th February. The third and final game of the series will be played at The Wanderers in Johannesburg on 9^th February on Sunday.

The visitors are flying high-on-confidence after securing a thumping 3-1 win in the recently concluded four-match Test series.

The performance was even more impressive considering the fact that the home side went ahead and England had two win three consecutive matches to secure a famous series win away from home.

In the 50-over format, England are one of the best teams currently in the world and are the current world champions as well and therefore, the team management will be hoping to continue their run in the ODIs as well.

The visitors are coming in the series with a rather weaken side with number of major absentees including the likes of star fast-bowler Jofra Archer, star all-rounder Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper and vice-captain Jos Buttler. The side have picked new player like Sajid Mahmood, Sam Curran, Tom Banton and Matthew Parkinson. Wicket-keeper batsman Tom Banton showed his caliber and class in the ongoing Big Bash League while playing for Brisbane Heat.

In his absence, the likes of Captain Eoin Morgan, veteran right-hander Joe Root, star opening batsman Jason Roy and wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow will share the responsibility of scoring most of the runs and put the home team under pressure.

In the bowling department, the team management will be relying on the likes of in-form pacer Mark Wood, right-arm fast-bowler Chris Jordan, bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes and leg-spinner Adil Rashid to provide timely breakthroughs.

The series will also witness the comeback of veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali who lost his place in the England squad after the 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup triumph.

On the other hand, South Africa are clearly going through a transitional phase and will go in the series with a lot of new names along with a new leader in wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. Six uncapped players have been included in the limited-overs squad for three-match one-day series. Wicket-keeper batsman Kyle Verreynne, Lutho Sipamla, Sisanda Magala, Janneman Malan, Bjorn Fortuin and Temba Bavuma. All the players have been selected on the basis of their impressive performances produced in List A competition.

The team management will be relying heavily on the likes of captain De Kock, , explosive left-hander David Miller and in-form Rassie van der Dussen to score bulk of the runs whereas on the bowling front, the onus will be on the likes of pacers Beuran Hendricks, Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo along with wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi to provide timely breakthroughs.

In the last five meetings between South Africa and England in the 50-over format, it is advantage to the Eoin Morgan’s men as they’ve emerged victorious three times compared to two wins from South Africa.

Both teams last met during the 2019 ICC World Cup where England thrashed South Africa by 104 runs, courtesy sublime batting from Stokes and outstanding bowling from Archer.