Resurgent S.Africa bounce back to beat England in rain-marred T20I post ODI mauling

Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch took two wickets apiece as South Africa beat England by 14 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in a rain-marred first T20 in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Bad weather reduced what should have been a 40-over contest at Sophia Gardens to just 12.5 in total.

England chasing a revised 69 in five overs for victory, finished on 54-5 as they failed to keep pace with a daunting run rate of nearly 14 an over against a quality attack.

Jansen (2-18) and Bosch (2-20) did the bulk of the damage in an England innings where only Jos Buttler (25) passed 20.

Earlier, several South Africa batsmen made quickfire 20s in a total of 97-5 in 7.5 overs after Brook won the toss.

South Africa captain Aiden Markram struck 28 off 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes, although he was dropped in the deep by Phil Salt.

Donovan Ferreira, the player of the match, hit three sixes in his 25 not out and Dewald Brevis made 23.

Fast bowler Luke Wood was only playing after the hosts decided against risking Jofra Archer in the wet conditions following the express quick’s four-wicket haul in England’s record 342-run win over South Africa in the third ODI at Southampton.

But Wood had opener Ryan Rickelton caught behind for a golden duck in a haul of 2-22.

“It feels like madness, but you can think about things. It was swinging about with the new ball, but you need one or two guys to make a cameo and you can reach a good score,” said Markram who led the Proteas to a 2-1 ODI series win, at the presentation ceremony.

England captain Harry Brook added: “We can’t read into that too much. We didn’t execute as well as we could have done.”

Both Salt, who holed out off the very first ball of the chase to the returning Kagiso Rabada, and Brook were out for ducks.

Meanwhile, South Africa have been hit with a third injury setback on their tour of England, after left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj pulled up with a groin injury during the warm-up ahead of the first T20I in Cardiff.

Markram revealed after the 14-run DLS win that Maharaj was originally set to play but had to be withdrawn at the last minute, with Corbin Bosch stepping in to replace him. Maharaj had recently been recalled to the T20I setup after missing tours to Australia and Zimbabwe.

Earlier in the day, fast bowler Lungi Ngidi was officially ruled out of the series due to a right hamstring strain. He is set to return home on Thursday and now faces a race against time to be fit for South Africa’s next major challenge - the defence of their World Test Championship title in Pakistan starting Oct.12.

To bolster their pace attack, left-armer Nandre Burger has been called up and will be available for the second T20I at Old Trafford on Friday.

The injury list had already grown earlier in the week when David Miller was withdrawn from the squad following a hamstring issue sustained during the final week of the Hundred. No replacement has been named for him yet.

On a more positive note, the rain-affected match in Cardiff saw the return of several key bowlers.

Kagiso Rabada, who had been nursing ankle inflammation, opened the bowling. Marco Jansen also made his comeback after undergoing thumb surgery post the WTC final in June and Lizaad Williams was back in the squad following a long layoff due to knee surgery. Jansen bowled two overs, while Williams was not used during the match.

Agencies