Strauss hundred eases England home

Strauss hundred eases England home

Andrew Strauss continued England's confident build-up in South Africa with an unbeaten 117 as the tourists comfortably chased down the Warriors' competitive 254 for an eight-wicket victory in Kimberley. The bowlers were given a much tougher workout than against the Eagles two days ago, but Strauss and Joe Denly made the target appear simple with an opening stand of 175 in 28 overs as the win came with more than nine overs to spare.

Denly's innings was timely after his failure in the first warm-up game and the corresponding success for Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan. The expectation is one of that trio will miss out when Kevin Pietersen returns, but with them all showing promising form the selectors will be faced with a tough decision. There has rarely been any concern over Strauss's form in recent times, but it is always good for a touring side to have their captain in the runs and his hundred followed a confident 72 against the Eagles.

The opening pair wasn't particularly tested by the Warriors attack and increased the tempo steadily throughout their partnership. Denly managed two sixes and Strauss also cleared the ropes with a strong blow over long off in another display of how his limited-overs game continues to develop. One area Andy Flower is targeting for improvement during this one-day series is England's boundary-hitting and the early signs have been encouraging, although clubbing Dale Steyn and Co. will be a different matter.

Denly picked out long on with a century for the taking, but Strauss didn't miss out and reached three figures from 109 balls. Alastair Cook was given an outing in place of Trott and collected 34 off 36 balls, adding 53 in nine overs with Strauss, before picking out square leg with the target nearing. Paul Collingwood helped finish off the chase.

Swann took a simple return catch to remove Jeggels and Matt Prior collected his second stumping when Colin Ingram was beaten outside off. The two Jacobs set about rebuilding the innings and took advantage of some loose deliveries from Rashid and also tucked into Collingwood's medium pace which was unusually expense.

Arno Jacobs went to his fifty from 59 balls and Davey Jacobs joined him with a boundary off Sajid Mahmood but fell next ball as he tried to go over the top. Swann returned to claim his third and England did well during the closing stages of the innings, with the final five overs yielding just 26 runs as Jacobs lost the strike and with it the chance of a hundred.