England Lions suffer heavy defeat in one-off tour match

CSA Invitational XI 289 (Senokwane 79, Lawes 4-38, Akhter 3-51) and 256 (Hermann 131) beat England Lions 154 and 107 by 284 runs

Andrew Flintoff’s first tour as England Lions’ head coach ended in a thumping defeat in their one-off contest against a CSA Invitational XI in Cape Town, with the visitors losing all 20 of their wickets in a total of 63 overs across two innings, as they were bowled out for scores of 154 and 107.

The four-day fixture at Western Province Cricket Club concluded a three-week tour of South Africa, with the focus for the Lions’ 19-man party having been on what the ECB described as “individualised and high-quality training”.

However, the batters in particular were found wanting against a South African attack in which Ruan de Swardt, who played two Tests against New Zealand in February, was the only bowler with prior international experience.

After being asked to bowl first, the Lions dismissed their opponents for 289 early on the second day, with Tom Lawes (4 for 38) and Zaman Akhter (3 for 51) proving the stand-out bowlers.

The same two players, however, were back in action with the bat all too soon, compiling an eighth-wicket stand of 78 after the Lions had stumbled to 72 for 7 in their first innings.

Codi Yusuf claimed three of those wickets, including Freddie McCann for a duck with his first delivery, while Rocky Flintoff – the coach’s 16-year-old son, and a late addition to the tour – was bowled third-ball for 4 by Yusuf’s fellow new-ball bowler, Matthew Boast.

Captain Dan Mousley, who recently made his England white-ball debut in the Caribbean, resisted for a while with 24, before Lawes (48 from 38) and Zaman (32 from 39) carried the score towards respectability. However, the Lions then lost their final three wickets for four runs to concede a first-innings deficit of 135.

Jordan Hermann, CSA’s opening batter, then extended that advantage with a second-innings 131. Jean du Plessis (36) and Corbin Bosch (33) were the only other scorers of note in a total of 256.

The Lions, who had arranged to rotate their squad throughout the game, used eight bowlers in total. These included another recent England debutant, John Turner, who went wicketless, while Derbyshire’s Pat Brown – a T20I international in 2019 – was the pick, claiming figures of 4 for 44 in 12 overs.

Set a nominal target of 392, the Lions’ batting shortcomings were swiftly exposed once more. Yusuf and de Swardt claimed two wickets apiece as the visitors collapsed to 39 for 5, and this time it was Farhan Ahmed, with 24 from 29 at No.7 who held up CSA for a short while. Tsepo Ndwandwa closed out the contest with 3 for 23 in 6.5 overs.