They can beat them in all other formats of the game and they can beat better teams as well, but why does South Africa repeatedly struggle against England in ODI's?
The last convincing victory I saw by South Africa over England besides the brilliant display in the 3rd ODI in Cape Town, was at the 2007 World Cup. And that was back when England still had Andrew Flintoff! Now two years later, the best Test nation and former best ODI nation in the world is struggling against the world's most inconsistent team besides maybe Zimbabwe.
Cricinfo writer, Sambit Bal, has written on South African failure and says it has to do with Micky Arthur's boys having a system that, once one thing goes awry, falls apart. I imagine the top order falling after a good start is one of those signs. Basically when SA are like Jenga blocks. On a good day you can keep piling on bricks, but one wrong move will send the whole tower crashing down. In this way, South Africa and India are similar in ODI's. When they crash, they crash hard.
At the moment I would say the SA ODI team is helped by the lack of bowling ferocity. Though Dale Steyn and thrilling debutant, Wayne Parnell, are dangerous to say the least, they aren't always going to be a great asset. Ryan McLaren, who SA picked up as soon as his Kolpak contract was through, hasn't impressed me much either. Lastly, with SA's spinners, it seems Roelof an de Merwe's magic is wearing off. I say give the boy a bat before he becomes completely useless.
If SA want to start the Test series, which I still see as their victory, on a good note, they will need to draw the ODI series and in style. Another win like in Cape Town would be nice. It would be nice, but these days I can't hope for anything too good with the Proteas.
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