Key Points

England had one of the most ridiculous batting collapses in recent memory, going from 82/2 in 14 overs to being all out for 131 runs in just 24.3 overs at Leeds on Tuesday, with Jamie Smith's half-century (54 in 48 balls, with 10 fours) saving the 2019 World Cup champions from pure embarrassment. Aiden Markram (86 in 55 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes) hammered England bowlers, including the debutant Sonny Baker (0/76 in seven overs), to absolute shreds as the Proteas marched to a seven-wicket win in just 20.5 overs.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Butcher said, as quoted by Wisden, "The extraordinary thing, I think, for me, and the worrying thing for me about England's batting in one-day international cricket ... is that they do not have a sort of an absorption button."

"You know what, opposition is going all right here at the moment. We got off to a bit of a flyer. The opposition have found something length-wise or whatever that is going to make it a little bit more tricky for us to carry on going at seven or maybe push the scoring rate that little bit higher," he added.

Butcher urged England batters to put up a "little partnership", even if it means cutting down the run-rate to five and a half per over from six and play the game "the way it is meant to be played".

"And then we have got enough players with enough skill and enough power to then make an absolute mess of any (bowling) line up when it comes to the last 15 to 20 overs," he continued.

Butcher pointed out that while the Proteas attack led by contributions from spinner Keshav Maharaj (4/22) and Wiaan Mulder (3/33) was good, it "was not that good".

"You know what I mean? We weren't playing against (Malcolm) Marshall, (Michael) Holding, (Joel) Garner, et cetera, et cetera, who blew us away by virtue of unplayable bowling. We played some horrendous shots. Got no sort of responsibility being held by any of those fantastic, fantastic players England have in that middle order, to say, you know what, we can absorb for a little while," he added.

"Let us get ourselves back in and have a reassessment at some point and put a score on the board that our bowlers have a chance of bowling at. None of those things happen, you lose the game," he concluded.

Since the end of the 2023 World Cup, England has featured in 21 ODIs, winning just seven and losing 14. Only the UAE, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have recorded a win/loss ratio worse than England's 0.5 in this time.

The second ODI will take place at Lord's on Thursday, with England needing to win this three-match ODI series in order to make sure they do not slip down in the ODI Rankings. Currently placed at number eight, they risk falling down even further, which will put their automatic qualification for the 2027 Cricket World Cup in jeopardy. The top eight teams, excluding the hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe (placed 6th and 11th respectively) are guaranteed a spot or else Three Lions will have to play qualifiers.

- ANI