Bairstow seals England rout of South Africa

SOUTHAMPTON, England: Jonny Bairstow made a dashing 60 not out as England thrashed South Africa by nine wickets in the first Twenty20 international at Southampton on Wednesday.

England, set just 143 to win, reached their target for the loss of only one wicket with 33 balls left.

Opener Alex Hales was 47 not out, his unbroken second-wicket stand with Bairstow worth 98 runs.

But the foundations for a victory which put England 1-0 up in this three-match series were laid by their bowlers.

They restricted South Africa to 142 for three after Proteas skipper AB de Villiers won the toss.

De Villiers made 65 not out and Farhaan Behardien an unbeaten 64 in an innings where fast bowler Mark Wood took two for 36.

The fourth-wicket pair’s unbroken partnership was worth 110 runs after they came together with South Africa 32 for three — which represented a recovery after they had slumped to seven for two.

But South Africa’s total still looked short of a competitive score on what is usually a good batting pitch.

Spinners Liam Dawson (four overs for 17 runs) and debutant Mason Crane (four overs for 24) both bowled tidily on their Hampshire home ground.

“The result doesn’t look good for us,” de Villiers told Sky Sports.

“We lost our way at the start, had to rebuild and we were 20-30 runs short in the end,” the star batsman added after a match where South Africa failed to get the boost they were looking for after their first-round exit at the Champions Trophy one-day international tournament.

Bairstow’s innings followed his 43, made after replacing Jason Roy, in England’s eight-wicket Champions Trophy semi-final loss to eventual tournament winners Pakistan in Cardiff last week.

“I’m trying to progress all the time and I played a few shots I didn’t have a few months ago,” said Test wicket-keeper Bairstow.

Score Board

South Africa won toss

South Africa

J T Smuts b Willey    0

R R Hendricks c Willey b Wood        3

*A B de Villiers not out        65

D A Miller c Buttler b Wood   9

F Behardien not out   64

Extras (w 1)   1

Total (3 wickets; 20 overs)  142

Did not bat: †M Mosehle, W D Parnell, D Pretorius, A L Phehlukwayo, T Shamsi, Imran Tahir

Fall: 1-0, 2-7, 3-32

Bowling: Willey 4-0-34-1 (1w); Wood 4-0-36-2; Jordan 4-0-31-0; Dawson 4-0-17-0; Crane 4-0-24-0

England

J J Roy lbw b Phehlukwayo   28

A D Hales not out      47

J M Bairstow not out  60

Extras (lb 6, w 2)     8

Total (1 wicket; 14.3 overs) 143

Did not bat: *E J G Morgan, †J C Buttler, S W Billings, L A Dawson, M S Crane, D J Willey, C J Jordan, M A Wood

Fall: 1-45

Bowling: Smuts 3-0-20-0; Parnell 2-0-26-0 (1w); Phehlukwayo 1.3-0-11-1; Imran 3-0-37-0; Shamsi 3-0-23-0; Pretorius 2-0-20-0 (1w)

Result: England won by 9 wickets

Series: England lead the 3-match series by 1-0

T20I debuts: M S Crane (England); D Pretorius and T Shamsi (South Africa)

Man of the Match: J M Bairstow (England)

Umpires: R J Bailey and R T Robinson. TV umpire: M A Gough. Match referee: A J Pycroft (Zimbabwe)