Bowlers, the shining lights of South Africa's gritty win

Before Friday, South Africa had last played a men's ODI against England in Bloemfontein in February 2016. How had the teams' games developed in the ensuing almost seven years, the good burghers of Bloem might have asked as they settled onto the grass banks and eyed the Barmy Army in all its awkward, incongruous Englishness.

The home supporters wouldn't have liked the answer to the question that unfolded in the first innings. But they would have been relieved that not everything had changed: South Africa could still bowl their way out of trouble. Their win, by 27 runs, was unlikely for much of the match and needs to be followed by several others.

Four more victories will be required against England and the Netherlands in the coming weeks if Temba Bavuma's team are to focus directly on the World Cup in India in October and November, and not on the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in June and July. Ifs and buts involving Sri Lanka and Ireland could complicate the equation, but not if South Africa keep winning.

They will have their next opportunity to do so on Sunday, also in Bloemfontein and also against England. But in a day game, which should mean a touch more life in the pitch early in the piece than was the case in Friday's day/nighter.

England have played 115 ODIs since that 2016 game. They have scored faster than a run-a-ball over the course of an innings in all but six of them, and they last dipped below that mark in June 2016. Along the way they deservedly reached the 2019 World Cup final, where they were awarded the trophy despite a tie with New Zealand.

In South Africa's 100 games, they've scored more than six runs an over just four times - all of them between February 2016 and February 2017. That's as stark an illustration as could be found of these teams' opposite directions of travel.

The trend continued on Friday. South Africa squandered a sound start on a perfect batting pitch to total 298/7. Conditions became less inclined towards run-scoring as the ball softened, but that didn't adequately explain the home side taking almost seven overs to get to three figures after reaching 75/1 after 10. They scored just 28 more runs in the second half of their innings compared to the first, even though they had seven wickets standing going into the second 25 overs.

That was despite Rassie van der Dussen making 111 and sharing 110 off 101 with David Miller, who scored 53. Van der Dussen, a player built for storms rather than sunshine, was at his flinty best once the surface had lost its early willingness and begun begrudging runs. That didn't suit Miller, but he endured in a stand that lasted from the 31st over into the 48th - prime time to launch a total well north of 300.

Except that South Africa, not for the first time, failed to launch. Some short deliveries climbed and others squatted, but champion batters find ways of overcoming those challenges. They don't merely live with them. The South African who showed the greatest sense of urgency was Temba Bavuma, whose 36 off 28 as an opener represented his team's only strike rate higher than 100.

South Africa were able to hit only 120 of their total - just more than 40% - in fours and sixes despite Bloemfontein's famously spacious boundaries being drawn in significantly. England got away with 43% of the innings in dot balls.

Jofra Archer, who played his first match for England since March 2021, sent down more scoreless deliveries than any of England's other bowlers: 30. But his return of 1/81 was also his most expensive in his 18 ODIs. He went for 10 or more in four of his overs, and in one of them for 20. That said, Archer bowled well within himself, clearly feeling his way back into the game after so long out with injuries.

The accurate, slippery Sam Curran made life more difficult for the South Africans than the rest of England's attack. He was rewarded with the wickets of Quinton de Kock, Van der Dussen and Miller at the handsome economy rate of 3.88.

The last thing South Africa needed after that was for England to hit the ground running in their reply, which is exactly what Jason Roy and Dawid Malan did in an opening partnership of 146 off 118 that seemed to set the tone for a thumping victory for the visitors.

There was poetry in Sisanda Magala breaking the stranglehold. In his second over, the 20th, his bouncer flummoxed Malan, who contrived to pull a catch to mid-off and go for 59. Magala, a proven performer at domestic level, has struggled with fitness issues and poor discipline on the international stage - he sent down three wides and two no-balls in each of the other two ODIs in which he has bowled. He was the last of the six bowlers Bavuma used on Friday. And the best.

Magala followed his removal of Malan by trapping Harry Brook in front with a sniping inswinger and having Moeen Ali caught in the deep with a brisk short delivery. His 3/46 from nine overs marked the first time he had taken more than one wicket in an ODI and the first time he had gone for fewer than a run a ball. It was also the first time his confidence has shone through so emphatically.

But while Magala was showing he belonged, Roy appeared to be winning the match. He stayed until the 30th over for his bristling, bustling 91-ball 113, the only time he has passed 50 in 32 innings of any sort save for a T10 half-century in Abu Dhabi in November. Roy's 11th ODI century means only Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Marcus Trescothick have scored more ODI hundreds for England, all with the benefit of significantly more innings than Roy.

Roy's dismissal fell between those of Brook and Moeen, but while England still had Jos Buttler they had control of the game. That changed in 37th, when Anrich Nortje speared a shortish delivery on the line of off stump. Buttler, cramped for room to guide the ball to deep third, was caught behind for 36. It was the second strike in Nortje's haul of 4/62, which was key to South Africa claiming all 10 of England's wickets for 125 in 25 overs.

South Africa's disastrous T20 World Cup, when they crashed out ignominiously by losing to the Netherlands, was followed by a flaccid Test series in Australia, where only rain in Sydney spared them a 3-0 whitewash. International cricket itself has been diminished and dulled by the booming positivity of the SA20, which has given South Africans rare reasons to be cheerful about just about anything.

Friday's gritty win, South Africa's first in three ODIs and for all England's batting progress their fourth consecutive loss, will remedy that situation. But the good burghers of Bloemfontein and the Barmy Army alike went to bed knowing that could change on Sunday.