Proteas well beaten in opening T20

ENGLAND coasted to a nine-wicket victory with 33 balls to spare in the opening match of the three-match T20 Series against the Standard Bank Proteas at Southampton on Wednesday. The Proteas won the toss but their total of 142/3 looked well below par and that turned out to be the case as a second-wicket partnership of 93 in 9.5 overs between Alex Hales (47 off 38 balls, 3 fours and 2 sixes) and Jonny Bairstow (60 off 35 balls, 6 fours and 2 sixes) saw England comfortably home. The Proteas were put on the back foot early on when they lost 3 wickets for 32 runs inside 5 overs. AB de Villiers (65 off 58 balls, 4 fours and 2 sixes) and Farhaan Behardien (64 off 52 balls, 4 fours and 2 sixes) then added an unbroken 110 for the fourth wicket but they were never able to accelerate the scoring rate in the second half of the innings. In the end England outplayed South Africa in all three disciplines and there is a lot work for the Proteas to do before the second match at Taunton on Friday if they are to get back into the series. Bairstow was named Man of the Match.