1st ODI
England 399/9 (50.0 ov)
South Africa 250/5 (33.3/33.3 ov, target 290)
England won by 39 runs (D/L method)
Farmers in Bloemfontein have been praying for rain, so when livelihoods are at stake it is wise not to be too despondent when it comes, but before the storm broke - and gave England a rain-affected victory in the first ODI of this five-match series - Jos Buttler and Quinton de Kock brought in a magnificent harvest worthy of grateful looks to the heavens.
Buttler's last ODI innings was the fastest hundred in England's history, against Pakistan in Dubai more than two months ago. An enforced rest has done him no harm. Back in an England shirt once more, he made a hundred once more, not quite as fast but still eye-wateringly impressive, as England set a formidable 400 to win.
Buttler is the poster boy of an England ODI side playing an attacking brand of cricket that, in the extent of its ambition, surpasses anything previously envisaged. Three days before the IPL auction, his 105 from 76 balls (remarkably, the slowest of his four ODI hundreds) could not have advertised his talent more persuasively. He will surely attract great rivalry from the franchises.
De Kock was a $20,000 ingénue when he first played in the IPL in 2013. His progress is now apparent. The boy with the baby-face is now a baby-faced assassin. He is on a roll. Scores of 103, 33 and 109 were at the heart of South Africa's ODI series win in India and he added a century in his Test comeback at Centurion for good measure.
When rain intervened, his unbeaten 138 off 96 balls had out-Buttlered Buttler. South Africa, at 250 for 5 in the 34th over, were deemed to have lost by 39 runs, but with de Kock at the crease it felt closer, adding to the suspicion that the rain tables have yet to adjust to exhilarating recent trends where domineering batting on good pitches has become the norm. AB de Villiers suggested South Africa were "spot on" but, had de Kock fallen, they would have been clocked off.
The stats, though, were stacked in England's favour. Their 399 for 9 was their second-highest ODI score, outdone only by their 408 for 9 against New Zealand at Edgbaston last June - that also powered by a Buttler hundred.
Mangaung Oval has a reputation as a batsman-friendly ground, but South Africa had only once chased so many to win: the famous 438 for 9 against Australia in Johannesburg, 10 years ago now. No side had previously made more than 351 to win here, nor chased a total of 300-plus under lights. And this spotless pitch was not quite a batsman's benefit: as the England innings progressed, there were occasional signs of grip and reverse swing to give the bowlers hope.
Buttler sat out the Test series against South Africa as England opted for Jonny Bairstow. But in limited-overs cricket his batting Manhattans promise to be so dominant that Boris Johnson could gladly adopt them as a plan for London's skyline, selling them in advance to the Russians and the Chinese. They are not garish innings, full of flashing neon lights, but assembled with a gentle brutality that few can rival.
He fell eight overs from the end, driving Farhaan Behardien to de Villiers at cover. Of his five sixes, a politely dismissive step-across to cow corner against Marchant de Lange took some beating, as did another stooping six over midwicket off the jerky offspin of JP Duminy, a venomous flick that carried inconceivable force.
No South Africa bowler curbed him for long. Behardien did demolish his stumps on 54 but it was a free hit, and the same player almost intervened in the field when Buttler was 68, flinging himself to his left at deep square leg to try to hold a blow off the legspinner Imran Tahir, but spilling it on landing. They were brief moments of hope as de Lange went even faster off the bat than he did on to it and the fifth-bowler combination of Duminy and Behardien went for 93.
By the time that Buttler perished, at 317 for 5, England had a sniff of 400, only to come up one run short as the No. 11 Reece Topley failed to make contact with the last two deliveries - a reminder of normality.
Chris Morris responded most vigorously for South Africa, his four new-ball overs spilling 29 but finding some swing from a full length late in the innings to reap 3 for 74. But then he only bowled five deliveries at Buttler.
England launched their innings with immediate élan, recognising rare vulnerability in South Africa's pace attack. Jason Roy is the catalyst, committed in his relatively young career to an aggressive start. He had to pass a late fitness test after back spasms, but he had 43 of England's 56 by the sixth over. South Africa started poorly. England never looked back.
Alex Hales, after an unproductive Test series, was encouraged ahead, one of three England players to support Buttler's hundred with a half-century. When Hales departed to a miscued hook, Buttler was promoted to No. 4 with the score an inviting 130 for 2 in the 18th over. Just think, there was a time when England would have looked askance at their laptops and saved Buttler for the slog. He told Sky TV he was nervous, driven by adrenalin.
Joe Root chivvied away alongside him for a half-century before Morris summoned an excellent swinging yorker. Even the muscular figure of Ben Stokes then adopted an understudy role, quickening after Buttler's dismissal to make 57 from 38 balls, his innings silenced by a pre-meditated scoop shot to have his stumps rattled by a low full toss.
In response, de Kock carried the fight virtually single-handedly. Anything too straight was wristily flipped through the leg side, often making use a stiff breeze. The spinners felt the pressure as did Chris Jordan, whose last ODI spell against New Zealand last June went for 97 and who leaked 56 in 5.3 overs before rain put him out of his misery.
South Africa's chase was all the more remarkable considering that their two star turns, Hashim Amla and de Villiers, scrambled only 14 runs between them. Amla dragged on to David Willey, a lack of footwork evident, and after Faf du Plessis had helped de Kock marshal the chase with a half-century, de Villiers came to the crease with three successive ducks to his name, the residue from South Africa's Test series defeat.
A wind had sprung up, strong enough for the batsman weathervane on the scoreboard to be playing switch hits, and a storm seemed to be brewing. South Africa were keenly aware that they had to lift the rate around the 20-over mark, at which time the match could be settled by rain recalculations. Three balls before the match became valid, de Villers' role in it ended, courtesy of Stokes' brilliant chase and thrust of a right hand at long on to intercept a flat drive. If the wind had not blown the boundary back a yard it would have been tight.
De Kock's hundred came up with computerised precision: his ninth ODI hundred logged at 187 for 3, one ball short of halfway. But compared to Buttler his support was lacking. JP Duminy, outwitted by Reece Topley's slower ball, chipped back a simple return catch and Rilee Rossouw gave Moeen a third wicket when he toe-ended to long off. By the time the rain fell, de Kock was feeling short of company. His consolation was the man-of-the-match award and Buttler, gentle guy that he is, would not have complained.
2nd ODI
England 263 for 5 (Hales 99, Buttler 48*) beat South Africa 262 for 7 (de Villiers 73, Topley 4-50) by five wickets
St George's Park, the oldest of South Africa's international venues, stayed true to its nature by overseeing a one-day international with an old-fashioned flavour on an inhibiting surface. A keenly-fought affair, in which both innings seemed locked together throughout, had the makings of a last-over nail-biter. Instead, thanks to Jos Buttler's sudden lift of tempo, it fell England's way by five wickets with 20 balls to spare.
Inhibitions? Not when you have just won your first IPL contract and are nearly £400,000 richer. Buttler gave the impression he would have played just as freely on the cobbled streets of his native Somerset as he logged an unbeaten 48 from 28 balls.
Three successive fours off Kyle Abbott, the first of them streaky (where was South Africa's slip?) then three sixes in a row off Imran Tahir in the following over sent England scooting to victory. South Africa's pace bowling had gone up a notch since their defeat in Bloemfontein but they now trail 2-0 in the five-match series.
It was Alex Hales' 99 from 124 balls that placed England for victory, although there was work to be done when he was fifth out with 59 needed from 52 balls - caught down the leg side pulling at Abbott with visions of a hundred. Front-foot pushes and crafted singles had supplanted what has become the common avalanche of sixes but the incoming Buttler recognised only a day of dreamy blue skies.
Hales has played more exciting innings, he has played fine innings in more draining conditions, but this was one of his most judicious ODI affairs. The Test series did not advertise the emergence of a rounder game, but his selectivity did here. With the exception of AB de Villiers, whose 73 from 91 balls was a notable return to form, he managed the conditions better than anybody.
Abbott, fit again after hamstring trouble, put in a combative shift, a bowler of great physicality, nipping one through to gate to bowl Jason Roy for 14 - Norton anti-virus would insist on a patch to stem that weakness. Root was at his most conservative, labouring 64 balls over 38 before he tried to advance to Abbott and deflected a rising ball into his stumps.
Eoin Morgan came in at No 4 - shrewdly, no promotion for Buttler on this occasion with grafting to be done - and kept England in touch with the rate with judicious sixes against Imran Tahir and Farhaan Behardien before Morkel defeated his blow-down-the-ground shot with a wide cutter.
Stokes' fate was an eventful duck. Tahir nearly had him twice in an over, sweep and reverse sweep both failing in turn with a review needed to spare him on the second occasion. In the next over he deflected Morkel into his stumps. The pressure was on England, but not, it became evident, on Buttler.
Financially, Chris Morris was even better served than Buttler by the IPL auction - he was sitting on a cool million dollars after a bidding frenzy that eventually saw him move to Delhi Daredevils. No matter: he had to watch from the outer. South Africa, seemingly of different persuasion, dropped both him and his Bloemfontein new-ball partner Marchant de Lange.
The match did not turn solely on Buttler's late merrymaking - Chris Jordan also played a crucial part in South Africa's innings. De Villiers came into the match with three successive ducks to end the Test series and 8 in the opening ODI, but he did the hard yards, his form flooded back and he signalled his intentions as South Africa reached the last 10 overs by lashing Jordan over midwicket for six.
But Jordan is a multi-faceted cricketer, dangerous with the bat, outperformed by few at slip and in the deep, and when de Villiers failed to middle another mighty hit over the leg side off Ben Stokes in the following over, Jordan was equal to the challenge.
It was a hugely difficult catch, a white ball falling out of a blue sky, a swirling breeze strong enough to fleck the sea and shake the branches of the trees outside the ground holding the ball just within range: Jordan's range anyway as he dashed back full tilt to take the ball over his shoulder at mid-on with remarkable poise.
De Villiers had built his own stage in the early part of South Africa's innings but the final onslaught which could have carried the game away from England never materialised. Only 64 came from the last 10 - respectable but not a game changer.
By the 20th over, South Africa had been three down for 98, Hashim Amla bowled when Reece Topley's semblance of inswing developed into something straighter, Quinton de Kock's bountiful run of form ended when Stokes had him lbw with a fullish delivery, and du Plessis' confident innings fell just short of a half-century when Adil Rashid found drift and turn to have him caught at slip.
Rashid and Moeen Ali throttled the mid-innings, both stints completed by the 37th over. That left a lot of onus on Jordan, and he could have done without Buttler spilling a very acceptable catch, one-handed to his left, when JP Duminy tried to run him to third man on 37. Five overs for 33 did not flatter him, but the catch released him from his troubles and Topley, maintaining a full length, squeezed South Africa to a chaseable total.
A slow pitch was to get slower still. The breeze was lifting. The match was in the balance. Hales got a break on 17 when he scrunched a full toss from Tahir into no-man's land and played with great responsibility. Then came Buttler, the liveliest breeze of all.
3rd ODI
England 318/8 (50.0 ov)
South Africa 319/3 (46.2 ov)
South Africa won by 7 wickets (with 22 balls remaining)
A century of the highest class from Quinton de Kock helped South Africa complete the highest successful run chase in an ODI at Centurion and keep the series against England alive.
With England having won the first two games in the five-match series, South Africa required a win to sustain their hopes of avoiding their first double defeat - in the Test and ODI sections of a tour - at home for 14 years.
But when they conceded 318 it left them requiring a record run chase at this ground on a pitch that had appeared cracked and two-paced during the England innings.
Yet they made light of their target, with an opening stand of 239 in 36.5 overs between de Kock and Hashim Amla racing them to victory with seven wickets and 22 deliveries remaining. They made it appear easy.
It is a pretty special batting performance that eclipses a century from Amla, but so sweetly did de Kock time the ball, so wide was his range of stroke, so little margin for error did he allow the bowlers that a pitch on which few England batsmen looked comfortable was made to appear something approaching a batting paradise.
The statistics of his de Kock's career are worth dwelling upon for a moment. Despite only celebrating his 23rd birthday in December, this was his 10th ODI century in his 55th match. To put that in perspective, nobody has reached the milestone at a younger age (Virat Kohli was the previous holder of that record) and it is as many ODIs centuries as Graeme Smith managed in his entire 196-match ODI career.
England will be relieved South Africa did not select de Kock earlier in the Test series. He has now scored three centuries against them (one in the Centurion Test and two in this ODI series) in his last four international games.
Such is his ability, he forces bowlers to alter their natural length and then punishes the resultant full or short deliveries. Twice in the first over, he eased David Willey through the covers for four. Minutes later he was treating Reece Topley the same way and following it with a perfectly timed drive straight back past the bowler.
Moeen Ali's first delivery was delightfully late cut for four before he was slog-swept for six and when the seamers dropped short in search of a solution, they were pulled with dismissive power. One pick-up pull for six off a Chris Jordan delivery that was only fractionally short was probably the stroke of the day.
With both sides set to name their World T20 squads on Wednesday, there was food for thought here for England. Despite all the progress they have made, with their batting in particular, their bowling attack remains both green and a little lacking in pace. In conditions where there is little swing available, they lack the weapons to dislodge well-set batsmen. Steven Finn might have made a difference, but there may also be a temptation to recall Stuart Broad, an unused member of this ODI squad.
Amla was only marginally less impressive than de Kock. Using his crease to upset the line of the England bowlers, he stroked some balls off his off stump through midwicket and others through extra-cover. When the bowlers reacted by bowling wider of off stump, he unveiled that familiar, flowing drive that has featured in each of his 22 ODI centuries. Only AB de Villiers, with 23, has scored more for South Africa.
Earlier the biggest of Joe Root's seven ODI centuries took England to an apparently challenging total. By the time South Africa struck for the fourth time, they could have been quietly satisfied with their work. Jos Buttler, again promoted to No. 4 to build upon the strong start from England's top order, had fallen first ball clipping to an intriguingly placed leg gully, while Eoin Morgan had laboured for 24 deliveries over his eight runs.
But then Ben Stokes joined Root in a fifth-wicket stand of 82 in eight overs that took England's total from the average to the strong. While Root was not entirely fluent in the early stages of innings, so wide is his range of stroke and so impressive his fitness levels that even when he was struggling to find the boundary, he was accumulating steadily. His 125 was the highest ODI score made by an England batsman against South Africa.
Recognising that, once the shine had left the ball, the pitch became somewhat sluggish, Root started to skip down the pitch to hit the seamers off their length and over mid-on. With the bowlers struggling to hit upon a length that contained him, he punished the resulting short balls with one uppercut for six off Morne Morkel the stroke of the innings. Twice he thrashed full-tosses from Imran Tahir for six over mid-wicket.
He gave one chance, on 44, when de Kock was unable to lay a hand on a tough chance offered off the bowling of David Wiese - a dab to third man that went a little finer than Root intended - but that moment apart, it was another masterful innings by Root.
While de Kock went on to redeem himself, perhaps a key passage of play occurred far earlier. With seven overs and a delivery remaining of their innings, England had six wickets in hand, two batsmen well set and a target in excess of 330 in their sights.
But then Root was run-out following a mix-up with Stokes - Root's drive crashed into the stumps at the non-striker's end and, in the confusion, the pair were caught mid-pitch - and Kyle Abbott, in particular, bowled with control and skill to stall the charge. He dismissed Stokes and Jordan with successive deliveries and, in five overs up to the end of the 48th over, England added just 24 runs.
Such is the depth of England's batting, that even their No.9 and No.10 - two men with 12 first-class centuries between them - are capable of attacking and Adil Rashid and Willey struck a six apiece in plundering 25 from the final two overs. But perhaps that lost momentum in the final seven overs cost them dear.
Maybe Eoin Morgan will also reflect on his decision to bat first. de Villiers made no secret of his desire to bowl first, had he won the toss, and it did appear that conditions eased for batsmen as the lights came into play and the light dew allowed the ball to come on to the bat a little more readily.
Or it may just be that, as with the best innings, the quality of the batting made it seem that way. The sense remains that, whatever England did with the ball and whenever they bowled, on this form de Kock was too good for them.
4th ODI
England 262 (47.5 ov)
South Africa 266/9 (47.2 ov)
South Africa won by 1 wicket (with 16 balls remaining)
The ODI series between South Africa and England will be decided by the final match in Cape Town on Sunday after South Africa won an enthralling penultimate game by one wicket with 16 deliveries to spare.
After losing the first two matches in the series, South Africa have now won two in a row with Chris Morris justifying his recall for this match - and his lofty IPL price tag - with a match-clinching innings under pressure.
By the time South Africa lost their eighth wicket, they still required 53 to win and looked as if they were going to succumb to the sort of defeat that would do nothing to rid them of the tag of chokers.
The top three were all bowled by good deliveries - Stuart Broad, in his first ODI since the World Cup, persuading Hashim Amla to play on in the first over - but then AB de Villiers was run out responding to a panicky call for a single from JP Duminy - Chris Woakes capping a fine recall with a brilliant pick-up and throw off his own bowling - and the middle order were exposed for their lack of calm.
While Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese could probably be forgiven their inexperience, Duminy - not for the first time, befuddled by a spinner - looked oddly unsettled for a man playing his 150th ODI. But then Morris, driving fluently and picking up the short ball with impressive power, thrashed a maiden ODI half-century in just 30 balls to set-up the finale at Newlands.
Four times he seized on deliveries pitched fractionally short - one from each of England's seamers - to pull enormous sixes and suggest that perhaps the management of Delhi Daredevils (who bid $1m for his services a few days ago) are a better judge of a player's value than the South Africa selectors.
When he fell, beaten by a fine googly from Adil Rashid, the scores were level and Imran Tahir was able to cut his first delivery for four to clinch the victory.
In truth, South Africa should probably have won this game far more easily. At the halfway stage of the England innings, they had reduced them to 108 for 6 before a brilliant innings from Joe Root - and some far-from-ruthless captaincy - saw a partial recovery.
On a decent batting surface, the only quality South Africa were required to demonstrate in their run chase was calm. But, despite their talent, they succumbed to 210 for 8 against some impressive England bowling before Morris intervened.
Indeed, England may well feel they squandered a great opportunity to wrap up the series. They wasted two chances to be rid of Morris early - once on 14, when he was dropped by Adil Rashid off Reece Topley at mid-off, and once, on 16, when Eoin Morgan failed to hit the stumps from very close range.
Duminy, on 1, was also reprieved by Alex Hales, at second slip off Woakes, while de Villiers, on 9, was put down by Jason Roy at point off Broad. Jos Buttler also missed a stumping off Rashid when the Behardien had 15.
But England should reflect that they lost the game far earlier in the day. Having progressed to 87 for 1 in the 18th over, they suffered a dramatic collapse from which they never fully recovered.
It was, ironic though it sounds, the quality of the batting track that played a part in England's downfall. So aware were the top order of the need to push on and set a defensible total on a surface where something in excess of 300 might have been considered par that they were drawn into a series of highly aggressive strokes which cost them their wickets.
The turning point was the wicket of Hales. For the fourth time in the series, Hales made a mature half-century with his natural positivity tempered by enough restraint to give himself the best chance of success. But then, despite the presence of a man on the midwicket boundary - by far the longer of the square boundaries - he played a slog-sweep off Tahir only to see the ball carry unerringly to the fielder.
It precipitated a collapse that saw England lose five wickets for 21 runs in seven overs; a passage of play that defined the match.
Perhaps, if we admire the boldness of an England side that can make 400, we cannot carp if they sometimes fail in pursuit of such targets. They have certainly developed into an entertaining side. But England have become, in Blackjack terms, the team that says "hit me" in every situation. Maybe the more experienced gambler realises that sometimes 17 is enough to beat the house. Had they eked out another 10 runs in their final overs - rather than going down fighting with 13 deliveries of their innings unused - it may well have proved enough.
Defeat was poor reward for another masterful innings from Root. With his second century of the series and the eighth of his ODI career, Root added 95 for the seventh wicket with Woakes in 16.4 overs to resurrect England. With Adil Rashid also contributing a swift 39, England's lower order more than doubled the score.
Unafraid to hit in the air and skipping down the pitch often to enable him to get under the ball, Root put the quality of the surface into perspective with an innings that leaves only Kevin Pietersen (nine from 123 innings) and Marcus Trescothick (12 from 122) with more ODI centuries than him of England players. This was Root's 63rd ODI innings.
He survived being given out on 95 - his use of the DRS showed an inside edge on the ball from Tahir that that had been adjudged to have trapped him leg before - and a top-edge on 55 that fell between fielders but, those moments apart, this was another excellent performance from Root.
Perhaps they benefited from de Villiers' decision-making. With England apparently there for the taking, de Villiers used his support bowlers to get through some overs rather than calling on his new ball men to finish their job. It allowed England a recovery which almost - but not quite - proved enough to snatch the game.
5th ODI
England 236 (45.0 ov)
South Africa 237/5 (44.0 ov)
South Africa won by 5 wickets (with 36 balls remaining)
An outstanding, unbeaten century from AB de Villiers enabled South Africa to become just the fourth side to come from 2-0 down to win an ODI series after defeating England by five wickets in another enthralling, if error-strewn, match in Cape Town.
On a couple of occasions, first as Reece Topley claimed three wickets in nine deliveries and then as England's spinners provoked a hiccup in mid-innings, it seemed South Africa may buckle under the pressure of chasing their modest target in the fifth and final game.
But, in the end, the class of de Villiers, proved decisive. The South Africa captain, playing his 200th ODI, made a sparkling century - the 24th of his career - to lead his side to victory with 36 balls remaining and ensure they did not lose the ODI and Test portions of a home season to the same opposition for the first time since 2001-02.
It was not just de Villiers' extravagant ability to put away the poor ball that made the difference. It was his composure. In a match characterised by missed opportunities and reckless batting, de Villiers was one of the few to combine restraint with his natural positivity.
So while England were, for the second match in succession, bowled out within their 50 overs as punishment for some reckless batting, de Villiers attacked with discretion. And while Farhaan Behardien was lured into clubbing to mid-on and Rilee Rossouw, who replaced JP Duminy in the South Africa side, drove to short cover, de Villiers waited for the poor ball and was happy to play out a few dot balls safe in the knowledge that his side had plenty of time.
That result - both of the game and the series - represented scant reward for Alex Hales. After four half-centuries - including an innings of 99 at Port Elizabeth - in the first four matches of the series, Hales became the fifth England player to register five successive scores of 50 or more in ODI cricket. The previous four were Geoff Boycott, Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart and Jonathan Trott. None of them had managed it in the same series.
Here Hales, with his second and highest ODI century, was the only man to reach 30 as England failed to exploit a frenetic display in the field from South Africa and failed to show the composure required on a pitch offering the bowlers some assistance. It helped Hales finish the series as the leading run-scorer on either side (he amassed 383 runs at an average of 76.60) but he lacked the support to earn England a commanding position.
The frustration, from an England perspective, will be that South Africa did not bowl especially well. With de Villiers winning an important toss - rain had kept the pitch under covers until about 30 minutes before the start of an overcast morning - the bowlers benefited from some assistance.
But instead of maintaining a tight off stump line and full length, they instead unleashed a barrage of short deliveries and struggled to maintain the tight line that might have brought them greater rewards. Chris Morris, while the quickest of the attack, also conceded four of the 11 wides.
Imran Tahir, introduced into the attack in just the fifth over, trapped Jason Roy - beaten a leg break that gripped and hit him on the back leg - with his sixth delivery, while Joe Root was unable to punish Hashim Amla for dropping him on 12 and was adjudged leg before, after a review, when he missed an attempted sweep against the same bowler. Eoin Morgan's modest series with the bat - he averaged 12.80 - ended when he gave himself room and could only edge a wide delivery outside off stump.
While Ben Stokes and Hales were putting on 70 in 11 overs, it appeared South Africa may have squandered their opportunity. But when Stokes, moving across his stumps, was bowled round his legs by Kagiso Rabada, it precipitated a decline that saw England lose five wickets for 37 runs in nine overs in mid-innings.
Jos Buttler, beautifully set up by a field that suggested a short ball, was slow to react to the full ball that followed from Rabada and played on, before Moeen Ali, attempting to hit over the top when the situation - with more than 15 overs remaining - required retrenchment, was brilliantly caught at cover. Chris Woakes chipped a half-volley outside leg stump directly to the fielder on the fine leg fence and Adil Rashid then attempted to clear the in field - an unnecessary risk with so much of the innings remaining - and gifted a simple catch to mid-off.
Not for the first time, the thought occurred that, for all England's admirable dynamism and boldness in recent times - and it is worth remembering that is exactly 12 months since they produced a timid performance in their opening match of the World Cup - it might prove rather more successful if it was allied to some common sense and match awareness.
On this surface, a total of 280 may well have proved enough, but in attempting to score 320, they left themselves requiring a miracle. They were, once again, the Blackjack player that keeps saying 'hit me' until they have a perfect 21. A more sophisticated approach may serve them better.
Hales, once again showing the maturity to complement his natural positivity, put away the wayward deliveries - and there were many - with customarily sweet timing to keep his side in the game. Strong off his legs, strong on the cut and pull, he also drove fluently. The on drive that brought up his century, a beautifully timed shot, was reminiscent of the stroke that brought Boycott his 100th hundred.
He enjoyed some fortune. He utilised a review, on 20, when umpire Johan Cloete thought he had edged a delivery off Morris - reward, as much as anything, for Hales persuading Roy not to squander the review on his leg-before dismissal - and reached his 50 with an inside edge that flew perilously close to the stumps on its way to the fine leg boundary. Twice more he was slightly late on yorkers, but got enough bat on the ball to squirt the ball past the stumps or slips.
Within eight overs of the South Africa reply Topley had three wickets and South Africa were 22 for 3. Quinton de Kock was caught behind - England reviewing a decision that was originally given as not out - before Faf du Plessis was beaten by a beautiful inswinging yorker first ball and Rossouw mistimed a slower ball to cover.
But first with Amla and then with David Wiese, who took the pressure off his captain with a thumping 41 off 32 balls, de Villiers kept his head when all others were losing theirs and saw his side to a victory that should restore some confidence going into the T20I section of the tour and the World T20 that follows.
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