South Africa vs England 2020: Three England players to watch out for in ODI series

England will be facing South Africa in the second-half of their long tour in the three-match ODI series, starting from February 4 in Cape Town. The second and third game will be played at Durban and Johannesburg on 7th and 9th February. All-rounder Ben Stokes, wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler, pace duo of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer will not be available for the one-day series. Uncapped players like Tom Banton, Matthew Parkinson, Sam Curran and Saqib Mahmood will be keen to make an impact for the side with bat and ball.

Joe Denly, Tom Curran and Dawid Malan are other players that will be looking to make most of opportunity and do well in this one-day series against South Africa. This is England’s first limited-overs task since winning the World Cup on home soil last year.

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

Here, we are bringing you a list of three players from England who can prove to be a real difference maker in the final result of the much-awaited series.

Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan is being termed by many as one of the best middle-order batsmen in white-ball cricket currently playing in the game. The left-hander has a vast experience of representing England in 233 ODIs in his career where he has scored 7,348 runs at an impressive average of 39.71 along with a strike-rate of 91.24 which included 13 centuries and 46 half-centuries.

In the absence of senior pros like Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, the England team management will be hoping to see the best from their captain which can go a long way in deciding the fate of the series.

Jason Roy

Jason Roy is one of the most destructive opening batsmen in the world of cricket. The 29-year-old has represented England in 84 ODIs in his career where he has managed to score 3,381 runs at an impressive average of 42.79 along with a brilliant strike-rate of 107.40.

Roy is coming in the series on the back of scores like 153, 66, 60, 85 and 17 in his last five innings in the 50-over format and therefore, the visitors will be hoping to see the continuation of such an amazing form in the upcoming series as well.

Chris Woakes

Chris Woakes is perhaps one of the most underrated all-rounders in the world of cricket. The 30-year-old played a key role in helping England in winning the 2019 Inter Cricket Council (ICC) World cup. Woakes has represented his national team in 99 matches in the 50-over format where he has scored 1,186 runs at an average of 24.70 and with the strike-rate of 90.12 which included four half-centuries as well.

With the ball in hand, Woakes is more than handful for his team as he has 142 wickets to his name at an impressive strike-rate of 32.6 along with a respectable economy-rate of 5.59. In the absence of Stokes, Morgan and the team management will be hoping to see Woakes providing balance to the team which has been an essential component in the success of this English in white-ball cricket in the recent past.