England vs South Africa, 3rd ODI at Leeds, ENG v SA, Jul 24 2022 - Match Result

Right then, shame that we could not get a result today, with rain having the last laugh. The series, though was quite enjoyable and the T20Is, that start on Wednesday, promise to be a delight as well. Do join for that, but for now, on behalf of Andrew and Ranjith, this is Ashish, signing off. Good night!

And finally, here's Jos Buttler, the England captain: Yes, good wicket, it's a tough ground to defend, especially when the ball runs into pockets and some smaller boundaries. The game was quite evenly poised so, would have been great to have a full game. [On possible replacements for Stokes?] It is something that we can sit on now and look ahead to what does that look like when Ben is missing from this team and to make sure that we have the World Cup in mind. Those conditions that we might face in India, what will we need out there and when you have a genuine allrounder like Ben, you are always going to feel short, in either the batting or the bowling. Just for us to have the time to workout which way we want to go and give guys opportunities to stake a claim for that place. [on Reece Topley and the other newer guys] Reece has been the obvious one who has been outstanding, and it is great to see him take those wickets. He has got all the attributes, and it is fantastic to see him fit and playing so well. And that is something in the teams over the years in white-ball cricket in England, there has been a lot of depth and that has pushed the standard higher and higher, whether you are in the team or just outside the team at the moment trying to get in. It has pushed standards high and that is something we hope we can continue to develop. There are some guys with injuries at the moment waiting to get back in and hopefully, that will again push standards high. [On the seniors stepping up ] Very confident that they will. We have lost two very experienced guys as you have mentioned but we have got a lot of very experienced players, who are natural leaders in the team anyways. Anytime you lose players and you go through a bit of a cycle, it gives opportunities for other players to step up. And we have to be realistic about where were are as a team at the minute. In the ODI format, it is about building towards that World Cup. In India we have had a bit of change in the recent past and it is about drawing a line in the sand being where your feet are and looking forward and building a team to compete and trying to win that World Cup. [On the T20Is against SA] There are hopefully going to be some great matches. Looking at some of the grounds that we are playing at, there should be some really high-scoring games, I think, as well which will be exciting. Some of the batters are hoping for some really good wickets. We have had some challenging white-ball conditions actually when in England over the recent years has been very favourable for batting. So, that's been a really good learning curve as well.

South Africa captain, Keshav Maharaj: [On batting first] We didn't want to focus too much on the weather, we saw what it did to us the other day. I think we just saw the conditions and sort of assessed that we would like to have a bat first. [On de Kock's knock] He looked in really good touch, it's a pity he couldn't get the magical mark. But there is a lot of cricket left, and hopefully he can replicate much of this performance going forward. [Make-up of the team going forward to the 2023 WC] We have found a really good combination. Obviously, a few players have been rested, so naturally, they will slot in. We just need to be more consistent and when we have the opportunities to get series under our belt, we just need to be a little bit more focused and take the opportunity with both hands. [On the T20 series] Definitely looking forward to the T20 series. It is going to be the same personnel that's involved in the squad. I am sure you will see much of the same faces as you have here.

Rassie van der Dussen is the Player of the Series [On the match] It's a pity today. We were in a pretty good position. The pitch played a bit tricky upfront but we knew we had to take care of the power play and Quinny batted superbly to transfer the pressure back on them. We were in a good position and we were looking to get 300+ again, but pity about the rain. [On the team's best batting make-up] We are pretty close. First game, we wanted to hit the ground running from the first game and that was massive for us for scoring a good 300 there and begin on our way today. We have our blueprints, we had a bit of a hiccup a few days ago but that happens in batting. England were brilliant two days ago and we had to set that right today and we were well on our way. [On his role] I want to be adaptable. I have batted at various positions throughout the batting line-up. Taking care of the powerplay, getting hitting space, playing clever cricket, smart cricket in the middle and if we are batting first, getting a 300+ score and backing our bowlers. [On his innings in the first ODI] It was pretty hot. You don't come to England expecting that heat but for us it wasn't too foreign. A special innings obviously. In a big match, we wanted to make a statement and we could do that, and it came against the World Champions, so was great. A 1-1 result, is probably a fair result. England were good in stages, we were good in stages.

Time for presentation.

4.04pm Right, we have an update. The match is officially called off. So, rain has the final say. Was turning out to be an excellent game, but it was not be with only 27.4 overs possible and rain playing hide and seek all the way. Quinton de Kock looked fluent in his 92* off 76 balls and was set for his 18th ODI century while Aiden Markram too got into his stride well. The cut-off time is still a bit away but with no signs of rain relenting, the umpires decided to call off the game, than hanging around. The series ends tied at 1-1. A fitting result, some might say.

4.00pm As we wait for further update, there is cricket that you can follow. West Indies have started well in the 2nd ODI against India, with Shai Hope closing in on another ODI half-century.

Hiruja Dinsara: "Will Stokesy play the T20I series starting on Wednesday?" Nope, he's not there in the squad. Having said that, this was before he announced his retirement from ODIs, so who knows if there could be a last minute change.

3.45pm Sadly, not much to add. It's still raining and the covers are still pretty much in place. The cut-off time, that is 6.04 pm, is still two hours and bit away, but the groundstaff will need at least 45 minutes to an hour to clear things up once rain relents. The radar isn't great, as things stand.

Edmund : "Reduced target can only help England. But playing these T20 games is not going to do anything to raise their game in the 50 over format." Something is better than nothing, isn't it?

Dipanjan: "What's the state of the rain? Is there no hope for even Quinny's 100?" Sadly, not looking great as things stand.

3.18pm Something to cheer up the public that has braved the rain. There is a 50 percent refund in place, unless the teams manage to get another 14 balls in (30 overs).

Rick Rocket : "Interesting listening to Eoin Morgan during the rain delay, discussing making Test Cricket more attractive to the paying public, value for money etc. Two words on that topic. Over rate!!!" Well, well, let's not get there now, do we!

2.51pm Not much to report. It's still raining in Headingley. The cut-off time for a T20 game is 6.04pm. According to Innocent Bystander (yep, the same one Andrew had mentioned before), if we have a minimum chase, the target has increased from 170 to 175 in 20 overs now.

2.34pm And the rain is back again! Looks like a thick cloud has gathered over and there will be another delay. And, more overs will be lost now. Nice little time for the South Africans after the break. They added 40 runs in 6.5 overs, with de Kock doing entering the 90s. He really has looked fluent so far and deserves a century. It was all spin for England in that short burst.

Around the wicket

Liam Livingstone comes on to bowl his off/leg spin. Presumably legspin to Markram and his offies to de Kock