England cricket team series. However, this status only lasted a year – having lost 3–0 to Pakistan over the winter, England were beaten 2–0 by South Africa, who replaced them at the top of the rankings. It was their first home series loss since 2008, against the same opposition. This loss saw the resignation of Strauss as captain (and his retirement from cricket). His replacement, Alastair Cook, who was already in charge of the ODI side, led England to a 2–1 victory in India – their first in the country since 1984–85. In doing so, Cook became the first ever captain to score
Rest of the World cricket team in England in 1970 McKenzie and Farokh Engineer. England were reduced to 76 for four in their first innings but Basil D'Oliveira led a recovery with help from Illingworth and Tony Greig. D'Oliveira made 110 and England reached what seemed a creditable 294. Despite the early loss of Eddie Barlow, the strength of the World XI batting is illustrated by the fact that no less than eight of them scored 40. The highlight was a fifth wicket partnership of 175 between Clive Lloyd (101) and Gary Sobers (80). England made a game of it on the last two days, exemplified by a stubborn last