SA vs ENG | England need to find ways to get Quinton de Kock early, reckons Chris Woakes

After a dominant performance in the longest format, England faltered in their first ODI as World Champions at Newlands. Taking on a young and confident South Africa side, England were flattened by 7 wickets as skipper Quinton de Kock led the Proteas from the front.

De Kock scored a blistering ton and stitched a big partnership with Temba Bavuma, who missed his ton by two runs, to set the tone for the chase which they completed with 14 balls in hand.

England speedster Chris Woakes reckons that his side must come up with a plan to tackle de Kock, who seems to be even more dangerous having taken the charge of a young side. Woakes feels that with de Kock firing on all cylinders, it looks difficult for England to save the series when they face South Africa next up at Kingsmead.

“I have bowled against him quite a bit and he is a world-class player. With him being captain now as well, he has that side of the game where he wants to see them over the line and that might mean he plays even better,” Woakes said of the Proteas skipper, reported Times of India.

“We have to find ways to get him out. I have been fortunate to play with him in the IPL, and I know we must figure out how we can stop him scoring runs. He is a big player for them.”

Woakes believes that wickets at regular intervals could have done the trick in Cape Town but the 176-run stand between de Kock and Bavuma made a hole big enough to sink the English ship. The visitors missed the services of star all-rounder Ben Stokes, who is rested for the ODI leg of the tour.

“It was a respectable total, probably not by any means a great score, but something to bowl at. If we took wickets at important times we could have put pressure on them.

“But that partnership between Temba and Quinton was pretty good and won them the game.”