England denied series victory against South Africa after Headingley washout leaving Jos Buttler frustrated

Less than 28 overs of play were possible in Leeds, with one rain delay and resumption before the game was called in the first innings with South Africa 159-2, which meant the one-day international series was drawn 1-1.

Quinton De Kock was denied an 18th ODI century as he struck a cleverly crafted 92 from 76 to help set a solid platform for the Proteas.

Buttler’s England went into the final game looking to avoid the prospect of a third straight white-ball series defeat having lost five of their previous eight white-ball games this month.

After a watchful opening few overs from the visitors, England made their first breakthrough in the sixth over, with Yorkshire’s David Willey taking the wicket of Janneman Malan, just as the opening pair were looking to kick on.

Willey had been part of England’s prolific and match-winning left-arm attack during the previous match at Old Trafford and struck again early, with Malan hitting the ball straight to Jason Roy on the edge of the ring to depart for 11.

At the end of the first 10 overs South Africa had picked up the pace following the early wicket and had moved to 60-1.

De Kock brought up his first half-century of the ODI series in the 15th over, after hitting Yorkshire’s Adil Rashid for two successive fours in the spinner’s first over.

His 50 came from 39 balls, including nine fours as South Africa continued to accelerate from the loss of the early wicket, having been 60-1 at the end of the powerplay, but 89-1 in the 15th over when the South Africa wicketkeeper reached his milestone.

Rassie Van Der Dussen was the next – and final – wicket to fall for South Africa just as he and De Kock had put on 75.

Van Der Dussen mistimed a sweep off Rashid straight to Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow on the deep square leg boundary having made a measured 26 from 38.

The first rain delay came in the 21st over, with the score 119 for two because the game was reduced to 45 overs a side and the players returned to the field for just 6.5 overs before the weather intervened for a second time and the match was called off shortly after 4pm.

Buttler admitted afterwards that was frustrated with England’s intense match schedule after his hopes of overseeing a first series victory since taking over the white-ball captaincy were ruined.

In Buttler’s first month since taking over from World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, he has had to contend with a hectic schedule of cricket as well as dealing with a hole in the team following the ODI retirement of Ben Stokes.

England are currently nine games into a hectic period which will see them take to the field 12 times in 24 days and they have had just one dedicated training day so far during that time, something the new captain revealed has been challenging.

“It’s tough,” Buttler said after the washed-out ODI in West Yorkshire.

“A lot of the time around training is when you do your best work, away from the pressures of the game, having good conversations and having a feel for where the group is at.

“And not just always in game mode, preparing for guys on the day.

“To get the highest standard of cricket possible, you need to prepare properly. Hopefully that’s something we can look at going forward.

“As a new captain, just having that time to bed in and do that work around your players and with your coaches.

“That’s been a frustration to be truthfully honest – it would be nice to have that time to do the work.

“But we don’t, so you just have to adapt and find the best way. It’s been a good challenge.”

Buttler’s England went into the final game looking to avoid the prospect of a third straight white-ball series defeat, but they will have to settle for a draw.

However, the 31-year-old believes his side are trying to play the right way despite struggling in matches against India and South Africa.

“It confirms that the way we want to play is the right way and we haven’t quite achieved that. I think especially with the bat,” Buttler said.

“It’s a strength of ours for a long time and we haven’t quite lived up to the standards that we know we can.”

South Africa had their last , after such a long layoff, De Kock admitted that t was good for him and his players to spend time on the field.

“I think obviously it’s nice going out there and scoring runs for the guys,” the South Africa wicketkeeper said.

“Obviously we’ve had a little bit of time off from our last series, so it was just nice to get out there and spend some time in the middle. “It’s always satisfying going with a high strike rate or a low strike rate, as long as I can help the team it’s always satisfying I guess.”