The 2003 NatWest Series was a One Day International

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

tri-series sponsored by the

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that took place in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 26 June and 12 July 2003. The series involved the national teams of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. Ten matches were played in total, with each team playing one another thrice during the group stage. The teams which finished in the top two positions following the group stages qualified for the final, which England won by defeating South Africa at Lord's on 12 July by 7 wickets. Preceding the series, England played Zimbabwe in a two

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series, while following the series, South Africa played England in a Test and One Day International series.

Venues

Squads

Fixtures

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Final

In what was South Africa's first One Day International appearance at Lord's, England won the toss and elected to field. For many of the South African batsman this was their first time playing on the sloping Lord's pitch, which at the start of their innings had a little moisture in and displayed even bounce. South Africa lost their captain

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held t ...

with the score on 10, dismissed by

James Anderson James Anderson may refer to: Arts *James Anderson (American actor) (1921–1969), American actor *James Anderson (author) (1936–2007), British mystery writer *James Anderson (English actor) (born 1980), British actor * James Anderson (filmmaker) ...

, and soon lost

Herschelle Gibbs Herschelle Herman Gibbs (born 23 February 1974) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for fourteen years. A right-handed batsman, mostly opened the batting, Gibbs became the first player to hi ...

for 9 with the score on 30. Debutant

Morné van Wyk Morné Nico van Wyk (born 20 March 1979) is a South African professional cricketer who has played in 17 One Day Internationals for South Africa. He is also the brother of fellow cricketer Divan van Wyk. Domestic career In October 2018, he was ...

made a quickfire 17 before he was bowled by James Anderson, in what was described as the "ball of the match".

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...

came into the match with a series

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of 164.50, but was dismissed for a 12 ball

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Darren Gough Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-da ...

, who was England's most

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bowler, with his opening spell of 7 overs conceding just 9 runs. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals during the South African innings, with

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977) is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

Ashley Giles Ashley Fraser Giles (born 19 March 1973) is a former English first-class cricketer, who played 54 Test matches and 62 One Day Internationals for England before being forced to retire due to a recurring hip injury. Giles played the entirety of ...

and Gough each chipping in with two wickets, while

Richard Johnson Richard or Dick Johnson may refer to: Academics * Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian academic * Richard C. Johnson (1930–2003), professor of electrical engineering * Richard A. Johnson, artist and professor at the University of ...

took one. James Anderson was the only England bowler to bowl his full complement of 10 overs, finishing with figures of 3/50.

Jacques Rudolph Jacobus Andries "Jacques" Rudolph (born 4 May 1981) is a former South African cricketer who played for Glamorgan and in South Africa with Titans. He attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool, a popular and renowned public school located in Pretoria ...

top-scored in South Africa's innings with 19. South Africa were eventually dismissed for 107, with their innings lasting just 32.1 overs. This score was at the time the lowest One Day International in the 34 matches played there and remains so to this day. England's response started poorly, with

Makhaya Ntini Makhaya Ntini OIS (born 6 July 1977) is a South African former professional cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He was the first black player to play for the South African national cricket team. He reached second place in the ICC Te ...

dismissing

Marcus Trescothick Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals.Michael Vaughan Michael Paul Vaughan (born 29 October 1974) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who played all forms of the game. He served as England captain for the test team from 2003 to 2008, the one-day international team from 200 ...

and

Vikram Solanki Vikram Singh Solanki (born 1 April 1976) is an English cricket coach and former first-class cricketer. In limited over international cricket, he played over 50 One Day Internationals for England as a batsman and occasional off-spinner. In cou ...

adding 87 for the second wicket, before Vaughan was dismissed for 30 by André Nel and Solanki was dismissed by

Andrew Hall Andrew James Hall (born 31 July 1975) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played from 1999 until 2011. He played as an all-rounder who bowled fast-medium pace and has been used as both an opening batsman and in the lower order. ...

one run later for 50, however by then the damage had been done. Anthony McGrath and Flintoff proceeded to lead England home to a 7 wicket victory. Following the match Flintoff was declared Man of the Series.

Statistics

References

External links

2003 NatWest Series
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:2003 NatWest Series 2003 in English cricket International cricket competitions in 2003 NatWest Group