The Proteas triumphed over England after a heavily rain affected shootout, that saw a number of disruptions make for a stop-start match.
The Proteas clinched a 14-run DLS assisted win over England in a comical rain affected first T20I at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Wednesday night.
It was stop-start match that was first reduced to a nine overs-a-side contest, before a second, shorter, rain delay during the Proteas innings, after England had won the toss and chosen to bowl, saw the hosts chase reduced to five overs.
In the end the Proteas managed to score 97/5 in the 7.5 overs of batting they were able to get in, before England, having been set 69 to win off their allotment, reached 54/5 by the end of their five overs.
“I’m pretty chuffed with the way things unfolded. It was very much a hurry up and wait sort of day and next thing you’re on the park and in battle. So happy that the guys managed to get a good score on the board,” admitted Proteas captain Aiden Markram after the almost farcical match.
“Then naturally the bowlers are going to be under pressure, so to see them have some good plans and execute them more often than not was pleasing.”
Speaking about how to approach a disrupted short game, Markram added: “It feels like madness to be honest, but you can think about things.
“The new ball was swinging quite a bit, so it wasn’t easy, but you basically need one or two guys to have a good little cameo to get to a competitive score.
“Tonight we had that with Brev (Dewald Brevis) and Donovan (Ferreira), and that helped us with the total that they had to chase.
Start of play
At the start of play, after waiting an hour and a half to get the game under way, the Proteas were finally able to kick things off, with Markram, 28 off 14 (2×4; 2×6) dominating the early overs.
Ryan Rickelton edged Chris Wood to keeper Jos Buttler to fall for a first ball duck in the opening over, before Markram dominated a 32-run stand with Lhuan-dre Pretorius (2).
Pretorius was then caught by Harry Brook off Wood, and Markram was caught by Wood off Adil Rashid as they slipped to 37/3 in the fourth over.
Brevis, 23 off 10 (3×6), Ferreira, 25no off 11 (3×6), and Tristan Stubbs, 13 off six (1×4; 1×6) then got stuck into the English bowling as they all cracked on at strike rates of over 200.
The rain then came down again to chase the Proteas from the field on 97/5 off 7.5 overs, which proved to be the end of their innings.
The England chase never really got off the ground as Buttler 25 off 11 balls (1×4; 3×6) at the top of the order, and Sam Curran, 10no off three (1×6), at the end, were the only batters able to trouble the Proteas bowlers in their short chase.
Marco Jansen, 2/18, and Corbin Bosch, 2/20, got a couple of wickets each in their two overs, while Kagiso Rabada, 1/11 off one over, also picked up a scalp, as regular wickets throughout their innings stunted England’s progress, leading to their comfortable defeat.
The second T20I takes place in Manchester on Friday evening, before the three game series closes out in Nottingham on Sunday afternoon.
