This blogger had warned in the two ODIs won by England that the victories were papering over cracks and that there were significant 'deficiencies'.
Well, at Lords yesterday morning - the chickens came home to roost. Of the six batsmen out for next to nothing, only Root and Morgan got out to good bowling - the other four simply surrendered.
Had it not been for a brilliant knock from out of favour Jonny Bairstow - the English score would have been nothing short of degradation! As it was, the ultimate defeat by SEVEN wickets made the performance appear to be a fraction less appalling than it actually was.
Congratulations are due to all rounder, Toby Roland-Jones, who, on debut, looked so much more professional than his considerably more experienced colleagues.
Jason Roy is desperately out of touch and MUST be replaced by Bairstow for the ICC Champions Trophy which, for England, begins on Thursday against Bangladesh.
Clearly, the preferred ODI openers play a form of cricket which must exclude them from the test team when real cricket resumes in July.
It must be hoped that we can put out a better attack on Thursday as injuries to bowlers improve - but this match included the cream of English batting - and apart from dropping the hapless Roy, where else can England go?
Happily, we had scraped a win in the S. Africa ODIs overall - so perhaps England will pick up some confidence defeating a lesser side on Thursday - OR WILL THEY?
