By Andy Wilson
England Lions lost their unbeaten record in the final game of their South African tour under the Benoni floodlights, but still return home with a 3-1 victory in the one-day series.
Jack Brooks took three wickets, and Jonny Bairstow and Samit Patel each hit a half-century, but the Lions paid the price for a slow start to each innings as South Africa A ran out comfortable 78-run winners.
James Vince won the toss and chose to bowl first then bat later under the Willowmoore Park floodlights, which are among the oldest in world cricket and were not bright enough for the Lions to launch their reply on schedule at 6:45pm – play resumed after a 35-minute delay when an electrician had restored the lights to full power.
The Lions made three changes to the team who sealed the series in Pretoria on Monday, with Harry Gurney returning from his thigh injury and Brooks and Adil Rashid coming in for their first one-day appearances of the tour. Alex Lees, Stephen Parry and Mark Wood made way, with Sam Billings promoted to open the batting with Jason Roy.
Reeza Hendricks and Dean Elgar laid an excellent platform with an opening stand of 149 inside 29 overs. It was Rashid who finally made the breakthrough, as the left-handed Elgar miscued an aggressive leg-side shot and the ball sailed to Billings at deep midwicket.
Hendricks continued to a 123-ball century, his second ton of the series, but Rashid bowled his 10 overs straight through for respectable figures of 1-52, and formed an effective all-spin attack with Patel.
Then Brooks returned to claim three wickets in an excellent second spell. He bowled Theunis de Bruyn, took a return catch to dismiss Khaya Zondo, and had the left-handed Stiaan van Zyl chopping on to his leg stump to end with 3-55 from his 10 overs.
Unusual delay here in Benoni, where 2 of the 4 floodlights are working below full power, so #EngLions reply delayed. Electrician on site!
— England Cricket (@ECB_cricket) February 5, 2015
Tim Bresnan claimed the key wicket of Hendricks, removing his middle stump for 107, and Boyd Rankin and Gurney also bowled well in the closing overs, with only Chris Morris breaking the shackles to make 35 from 20 balls.
But the Lions lost Billings and Roy in the first four overs of their reply, and slipped to 92 for four when Vince and Ben Stokes both fell to Kagiso Rabada.
Bairstow and Patel kept their hopes flickering in a fifth-wicket stand of 76 but the dismissal of Bairstow, lbw to Elgar’s occasional left-arm spin for a battling 64 from 74 balls, turned out to be the killer blow.
Patel was Rabada’s third victim shortly after reaching a 67-ball half-century, and the young fast bowler rounded off the series with figures of 4-51 when he had Rankin caught behind in the 43rd over.
Captain Vince said after the game: "We didn’t get it quite right tonight, probably starting from the toss; we maybe got that decision slightly wrong. Still the first 20 overs with bat and ball we weren’t quite as good as we have been in the series. But on the whole to win the series over here was a great effort from everyone.
"Brooksy was good; to bowl as well as that not having played a game in the series was a credit to him. And Rash as well, as he got into his spell he bowled really well. With the bat unfortunately we lost a few too many early doors. Bluey (Bairstow) and Samit had a good partnership there. Obviously ideally one of them would like to have gone on and made a big score, but they both played really well.
"To come here against a strong side, both in the Test matches where we got two draws and to win 3-1 in the one-dayers, was a great effort, and the great thing was everyone contributed at times. It’s been a really good tour."