New England captain Alastair Cook has labelled his side’s six-wicket win over South Africa on Sunday a “really good performance” and says he’s delighted they’ve turned the series around.
The host nation were 1-0 down after the first One-Day international in Southampton, fresh from losing the three-game Test series to the Proteas 2-0.
However England are now in control following Sunday’s win at Lord’s in the fourth game of the five-game series.
England’s bowlers restricted South Africa to just 8/220 after sending them in to bat on an overcast day, with left-arm off break bowler James Tredwell picking up 3/35 off eight overs, which saw keeper Craig Kieswetter stump three Proteas batsmen.
Ian Bell (88) led the run chase from the top of the order, putting together a strong partnership with Jonathan Trott (48), before England reached the total with six wickets and 20 balls to spare.
“It was a really good performance again,” Cook told reporters afterwards. “When you win a toss in those conditions you need to make the most of it and I thought we did.
“(Steve) Finn and Jimmy (Anderson) asked plenty of questions up front. A couple of chances went down but we hung in there. Then with the bat we had that really good partnership between Bell and Trotty which probably got us most of the way home.
“We came here to win the series, we had a slow start but now it is 2-1 and all to play for at Trent Bridge.”