Captain Quinton de Kock welcomed the Player of the Match award, after South Africa beat England by seven wickets in Tuesday's first ODI at Newlands in Cape Town.
The result gave the hosts an early lead in the three-match series. The second match will be played at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday. Bet365 have South Africa and England priced at 2.37 and 1.57, respectively, to win the second ODI.
South Africa relied heavily on spinners Tabraiz Shamsi and Jon-Jon Smuts, as England were limited to a final total of 258 for eight on a slow pitch. De Kock then struck a century during a 173-run partnership with half-centurion Temba Bavuma. South Africa eventually reached a 259-run target with 14 deliveries to spare.
The ton was the 15th of de Kock's ODI career. He also passed 5,000 ODI runs. The talented left-hander is the 11th Proteas cricketer to reach the milestone. He has struck two ODI tons at the venue for the second ODI.
Celebration from de Kock
“It was a good night. We are glad to get a win on the board. It feels good to get back to winning ways. This week we had a chat about how to take the ODI team forward and this was a good start to that,” said de Kock, who was part of the Test team's recent three-one series drubbing at the hands of England.
“It's always nice to have two spinners. Smuts is an all-round package, so it is very nice to have options like that.
“It was a matter of getting momentum. Running hard between the wickets was the way to go forward and that was the way we went about it.”
De Kock is new to the full-time ODI captaincy. He recently succeeded former ODI captain Faf du Plessis. Whether De Kock captains South Africa to the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year remains in the balance.
“It's only one game so far, we'll see how it goes in the near future. Hopefully, it keeps on being good for me. I enjoyed it. It kept me in the game, especially when things were really tough. The extra bit of responsibility helped me,” he added.
The third and final ODI will be played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.
