England v South Africa ODI: Five things we learned as England took 1-0 series lead

Chris Woakes took four wickets as England beat South Africa by 72 runs at Headingley to take a 1-0 series lead.

England, helped by Eoin Morgan (107) and Moeen Ali (77), set the visitors 340 to win the game having lost the toss.

And South Africa looked set to challenge after Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla put together a 112-run partnership for the second wicket.

But losing those two in quick succession boosted England, and the hosts made light work of the remaining South Africa batting line-up to claim the first victory of the three-match series.

Here’s what we learned from the first match.

Joe Root is shaping up to be the perfect number three

Ok, so this is not revolutionary, but England’s new Test skipper is adequately suited to be England’s number three.

Did we mention he’s one of the best batsmen in the world? Oh, of course you already knew.

Coming in after Jason Roy disappeared for a mere 1, Root – making an appearance at his home ground – steadied any nerves and set about rebuilding with Alex Hales.

Hales took the lead with the bigger hits, and between them they saw off South Africa’s worrying pace attack with a one-run-a-ball partnership of 98. At least until Root swatted a bouncer straight into the welcoming hands of Amla.

Which is of slight cause for concern but we’ll deal with that issue a bit further down.

Phehlukwayo gets a breakthrough

The 21-year-old paceman came on in the 17th over just as Hales and Root – see above – were beginning to steer England into a seriously dominant position.

READ MORE: Europa League final is chance for Paul Pogba to underline his importance

READ MORE: How Ajax compare to their great 1995 Champions League winning-side

Cometh the hour, cometh the man, as the saying goes. It’s not entirely relevant to this discussion, but Andile Phehlukwayo took the crucial wicket of Hales on his first delivery of the match, ending a 98-run partnership and contributing to an unsteady middle-overs innings from the hosts.

It was an impressive start, and “Lucky” bowled one of the better economy rates, claiming 2-59 off nine overs.

Captain Morgan inspires once more

It feels like an age has passed since Eoin Morgan rejected the chance to tour Bangladesh due to concerns over safety. Pundits wondered whether he could bounce back from turning his back on his team.

Yeah, he has proven all the doubters wrong. With his second consecutive big score – following a half-century against Ireland at Lord’s – he eventually departed on 107 (93) after a good balance between the big hits and quick singles.

Not only did he bring up his 11th ODI hundred with a six over fine leg, he became England’s leading ODI runscorer in the process.

Oh, and his captaincy was quite nifty too, strangling Quinton de Kock early on and forcing one of the best shorter-form batsman to top edge on just 5 (13).

Old bouncer demons re-emerge

England have been undone by a serious bounce game in Australia before, so it’s just worth noting that Root’s wicket was not one he’d like to see again. Reacting to a short ball, Root was hurried into a shot and ended up, as a result, playing quite a poor one straight to midwicket.

READ MORE: Gossip – Man City and Bayern ‘want Sanchez’, Chelsea ‘target James’

READ MORE: Chelsea cancel title parade following Manchester terror attack

With the series in Australia just around the corner, England’s skipper will no doubt be keen to eradicate those errors from his game – especially given the high-intensity bouncer tactics they received on their last tour Down Under.

Granted we’re talking about white ball cricket, and the Ashes are several months away, this won’t be a major point of concern – but certainly one worth noting.

England show how to beat world’s best

Quinton de Kock has shown his clinical ability to be a match-winner in the shorter formats of the game, so Morgan and co did well to stop him scoring at the start.

That led to his early departure – having scored just 5 runs off 13 – but Hashim Amla 73 (76) and Far du Plessis 67 (61) really seized the initiative, putting on a partnership of 112.

England toiled but the well-timed, calculated partnership deconstructed a decent portion of the target set by the hosts and gave South Africa a fighting chance.

Unfortunately for them, it all went wrong with the wicket of Amla, and Faf followed shortly after, leading to somewhat a meagre collapse by the visitors, as England won by 72 runs.

De Kock can be the difference – and ahead of the Champions Trophy, England have exposed how to beat the world’s best ODI team.