England beaten by seven wickets in third ODI in Centurion...
Wednesday 10 February 2016 09:03, UK
Nick Knight hopes Stuart Broad returns to the England side for the fourth one-day international in Johannesburg.
An inexperienced England attack struggled in slipping to a seven-wicket defeat to South Africa in Centurion on Tuesday, with Quinton de Kock (135) and Hashim Amla (127) scoring high-class centuries as the hosts successfully chased 318.
The loss means England have been pegged back in the series, leading 2-1 with two games to play.
"It's hard to be critical of the bowling," said Knight. "But they're all inexperienced lads - there was no Broad in there - and these guys are all still learning their trade.
"Amla and De Kock were quite brilliant - the way they constructed their partnership - and it was such a masterclass that you felt that they would chase pretty much anything down.
"It was about whether England could take early wickets, and they couldn't. The bowlers tried absolutely everything, as did Eoin Morgan.
"He tried to rotate his bowlers, but never quite found a combination where he could stymie the runs, push the required-rate up and put pressure on.
"Again that's partly down to the skill of the batsmen, but let's face it, without a Steven Finn, Liam Plunkett or a Broad, Morgan is slightly hamstrung - he doesn't have that extra pace to try and change the game.
"There was a time when some of those young kids, in the heat of the battle out there, need an experienced hand on their shoulder to say 'this is what we're going to try and do, and how we're going to do it'.
"It's no secret - I said it before the series started - I would have gone with Broad. I would have rested him for the last Test, and played him in the ODIs, not all five games, but the first three.
"Ironically, I think he would have bowled really well on that surface, as there was a slight difference between the way the two sides bowled - South Africa had a much taller attack, with the likes of Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, and Kyle Abbott hitting the pitch just back of a length.
"They got a little bit more from the surface. Conditions were in their favour, as the pitch got better, and the England bowlers were a little bit fuller, and didn't have quite the same pace.
"Don't forget, it was a game South Africa had to win to stay in the series, so it was a tremendous performance from two high quality players with a huge amount of pressure on both of them.
"It has set up the rest of the series beautifully going into Johannesburg. Broad bowled brilliantly there in the Test match taking 6-17, and I hope they bring him back, because they could knock the series on the head with a win there."
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