England vs South Africa 2017: 3rd ODI, 5 talking points

A sensational opening spell from Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell on a green top at Lord's saw England reduced to 20/6 within five overs, the first time a team has lost that many in five overs in ODI history. A recovery of sorts from Johnny Bairstow and David Willey took England past 100 and some respectability.

But the result of the game was sealed inside those five overs. Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla helped South Africa to a bright start and AB de Villiers and Duminy took them past the target of 154 with little fuss. The skipper, in particular, seemed to be in good nick for the Proteas.

England, on the other hand, will ponder how a dead rubber turned into a nightmarish last game before the Champions Trophy. Granted that this was an inconsequential match, but the manner in which the top order succumbed on a green track will embarrass England.

Brief Scores: England 153/10 (Bairstow 51, Rabada 4/39, Maharaj 3/25) lost to South Africa 156/3 (Amla 55, de Kock 34)

Take a look at the talking points from the final ODI of the three match series between England and South Africa.

#5 England, 20/6 in 5 overs

Cricket is a funny game. One day you are smashing scores of 300+ at will and the next day you are 20/6 in 5 overs. The English batsmen wore a sour look as Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell steamed in to reduce them to 20/6 in 5 overs. It was the quickest loss of the top six wickets in the history of ODIs. Jason Roy departed in the very first over from Rabada, continuing his streaky run of form.

Joe Root fell to a peach from Parnell and Eoin Morgan followed suit. When Hales tried to slam an on-song Rabada, the crowd were appalled as would have been the England skipper and coach. Buttler and Rashid fell off successive balls in the same over as Rabada picked up four within five overs of the game and England were left bruising at 20/6.

#4 Parnell stakes his claim

Wayne Parnell got rid of Joe Root and Eoin Morgan in quick succession

Wayne Parnell may not be a popular choice among South African fans and critics, but when he gets going with the new ball, the left-hand seamer is a potent bowler. He loves overcast conditions and has a knack of picking up early wickets when the ball is doing a bit. With four all-rounders to choose from, South Africa will have one less headache after this game.

Parnell started by trapping Joe Root in front with a perfect inswinger that rapped the England no.3 on the pads. He proceeded to remove the England captain with another well shaped delivery before returning to break the Johnny Bairstow - David Willey stand.

Parnell's new ball exploits combined with Chris Morris' failure to impress since landing in England might prompt South Africa to pick the former in the playing eleven.

#3 Jonny Bairstow cashes in on his opportunity

Johnny Bairstow played some wonderful cricket to save England some blushes

Inspite of his spectacular form in the longer formats of the game, Jonny Bairstow has been left on the sidelines in ODI cricket courtesy a packed top order and a flamboyant wicket-keeper in Jos Buttler. The England middle-order batsmen, however, did some good work with the repair job after England were at 20/6.

He put on a 62-run stand with David Willey before another half-century partnership with Toby Roland-Jones ensued. Bairstow was his calm, steady self, negotiated the swinging and seaming ball with ease.

He stood like a rock as England recovered from an appalling start to post a score above embarrassment. Bairstow fell soon after his half-century while trying to charge Keshav Maharaj.

#2 Amla quickest to 7000 ODI runs

Amla hit a fluent half-century and became the fastest to 7000 runs in the process

Hashim Amla has not been at his best in the recent past for South Africa. His familiar woes with the moving ball and short deliveries did not stop him from becoming the fastest to reach the landmark of 7000 ODI runs, though. The veteran opener showed signs of returning to form when he hit two hundreds in the IPL for the Kings XI franchise.

With a small target to achieve, Amla was helped by some leg-side looseners by David Willey and got off to a brisk start. de Kock gave him good company as the duo helped South Africa get to 59/0 before the lunch break. Amla soon crossed his half-century before inside edging debutant, Roland-Jones onto his stumps.

#1 England given a reality check

England were embarrassed by some spectacular bowling from the Proteas

England have been so good in the past few months that it seemed inevitable that they’d get complacent. They had scored above 300 in 10 of their last 11 games batting first before this one. Their top seven has everything from attacking openers, a stable no.3, some good finishers and a truck load of all-rounders.

They beat the no.1 ODI side in back to back games to win the series. However, all that was left in the shadows as Wayne Parnell and Kagiso Rabada gave their batsmen a reality check.

Being reduced to six down in five overs is as humiliating as it gets in this form of the game and a dead rubber suddenly seemed to have evoked much more impact than expected.