Unlike the first ODI, this one was a high scoring one. South Africa set a large score of 330 in 50 overs. With Matthew Breetzke being the highest scorer. Jofra Archer took the most wickets for England and his economy too was better compared to other bowlers.
England had a bad start with Jamie Smith being a golden duck on the very first ball of their innings. England did took control after that and was poised to win the game. 47th over was the one which made the game swing to South Africa's favor. On Nandre Burger's over, they lost two important wickets and were able to make just 3 runs. They tried getting back in the subsequent two overs but they were short by 5 runs in the end.
It is really surprising to see England lose two matches in a row at home. England's cricket is also going backwards as the days go by. Basically, after winning the 2019 ODI World Cup at home, they are not in a good position, and even in ICC tournaments, they cannot do well at all. They have failed to show good cricket in the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup. Even in the 2025 Champions Trophy, they have not been able to win a single match and are out of the tournament. In recent series, they have not been able to do anything good against strong teams. Even though they had a chance to win a 5-match Test series against India, they failed there too. Now, they have decided to lose the series by losing the first match of the 3-match ODI series against South Africa. It is really difficult to accept such a decline in cricket in the country that invented cricket.