Jason Roy's poor form led to him being dropped from England's squad at last year's T20 World Cup [Source: BBC]
England carelessly fell to a 27-run defeat in the first one-day international against South Africa despite Jason Roy’s belligerent century in Bloemfontein.
On the day Jofra Archer made his comeback from injury, opener Roy crashed a 79-ball century to seemingly put his side on course for a comfortable victory in pursuit of 299.
He powered England to 146-0 inside 20 overs and 196-3 in the 30th over before he was caught on the boundary for 113 from 91 balls.
But the wicket of Moeen Ali four overs later began a collapse of six wickets for 49 runs in the face of fiery fast bowling.
Anrich Nortje took 3-13 in a four-over spell and England were bowled out for 271 in with 5.4 overs to go to complete a remarkable turnaround.
Rassie van der Dussen had earlier hit a measured 111 from 117 balls in South Africa’s 298-7.
It had looked as though the hosts had failed to capitalise on being 75-1 after 10 overs and 167-3 after 30, Sam Curran leading an England fightback with 3-35.
On his first England appearance for almost two years, Archer struggled at times, finishing with figures of 1-81 from 10 overs – his most expensive figures in ODIs.
The win puts South Africa 1-0 up in the three-match series before Sunday’s second ODI and is a boost for the hosts’ bid to qualify automatically for this year’s 50-over World Cup.
