Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"I'd be amazed if England go into their first World Cup match with this balance of side. This is a chastening experience for the guys out there."

Amla takes Jordan for a fourth straight boundary with another sweet cover drive. For the man who went to school with Rihanna, it's SOS time. Man down indeed. 

Jordan's natural hit-the-deck style is not well suited to this bouncy deck - short again and Amla swivels on it and pings a pull shot to the square-leg boundary. CJ then suffers a loss of composure and chucks in a couple of wides. When he manages to find the radar again, he's crunched for a square-driven four. Then Jordan overcorrects and Amla zips him off his hips for a third straight boundary. Send help...

Image source, Rex Features

Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"Suddenly this looks like the end of a very long tour. Ben Stokes is getting caned through no real fault of his own and there are a few out there who are probably contemplating the flight home. Moeen has run out of fuel, whatever he does he seems to get caught and he is getting slower in the field."

Jon McCrow: ABDV seems to know what more about what Jordan is planning than poor Jordan himself. Tonk time.

Jon Dunn: Your best batsmen should face the most deliveries. Like SA do with AB, we should get Buttler to open

From the muscular biff of De Villiers to the wristy beauty of Amla. The Bearded One gets in on the act, unfurling a delicious cover drive which races to the fence. But this is the AB Show - Stokes throws in a full toss and not even on Midsomer Murders has carnage been so predictable. De Villiers belts him over midwicket for four, and to top it all off, adds another four off the inside edge. England on the ropes here...

Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"This is cruel if you are English but fantastic to watch. That was a bouncer that he played on the run, swatted over mid-wicket."

This is a clinic from De Villiers. Jordan gets it full and wide but AB stretches, gets the bottom hand underneath it and diverts it over point for four. And then he marmalises the final ball a long way back into the stands at midwicket! Tremendous from De Villiers, traumatic for Jordan.

Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"These are frightening times for bowlers. He anticipated De Villiers, he knew Jordan was not going to bowl another short one, and he just smashed it."

Image source, Rex Features

Chris Jordan was brilliant in the first T20 in Cape Town - what can he do here? De Villiers swats him a little awkwardly into the air on the pull, but there's no-one there, and his next shot is much more emphatic: brutalised through the off-side with the cross bat for a scorching four. 

More treatment! Jordan goes fuller and ABDV gives himself room and bludgeons him for a lofted six over long off! 

Matt Bone: Will someone please just put this England team on a plane home, they clearly don't want to be there any more...

Andy: Already seen enough of Reece Topley in T20 cricket. Please please don't pick him for the world cup, please.

Nic Lewis: Always think of that cafe from The Apprentice after an England batting collapse. Dressing room drinking tea, looking peeved off.

Ben Stokes is preferred to Chris Jordan to open at the other end. Amla gets a bit lucky, trying to flick a delivery over the leg-side infield but mistiming it and only just clearing a leaping Moeen at mid-on. As wistful mountaineers often say, "Things could have been so different at sea level..."

Generally it's a pretty tidy start from Stokes. Four off the over. But England need wickets...

Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

"I just think England might be in a state of shock."

Topley begins with a loosener down the leg side, and AB swats it off his hip for a one-bounce four. Momentum flowing South Africa's way. Big appeal from Topley for a caught-behind, but that's come off De Villiers' hip. R-Top is misfiring here, I'm afraid - a couple of leg-side wides, before another ill-advised visit to De Villiers' hip region is greeted by an absolutely monstrous six over mid-wicket.

Happy birthday Reece. He's 22 today. Almost as many runs from that over as candles on his cake...

So, England with much work to do after a meltdown of Homer Simpson at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant proportions. Priority number one: get rid of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. They're at the crease, Reece Topley has the ball. Let's play.

Image source, Rex Features

Steve Clark: You saw the very best of England there (Buttler, Morgan) and the very worst (most of the rest of them). Shocking collapse.

ian shepherd: England are at least 30 or 40 away from where they should've been...poor on our part..again.

Much obliged, JL. Thank goodness England played that extra batsman, eh? Eh?

To take you through the remainder of the match here is James Gheerbrant.

England 171 (19.4 overs)

Buttler 54 (28), Morgan 38 (23) Root 34 (17)

Bowling figures: Rabada 3.3-0-29-1; Abbott 4-0-26-3; Morris 4-0-33-2; Wiese 3-0-40-0; Tahir 4-0-25-1; Duminy 1-0-16-1

Fall of wickets: 10-1 (Roy 9), 60-2 (Root 34) , 61-3 (Hales 16), 157-4 (Buttler 54), 157-5 (Morgan 38), 158-6 (Stokes 1), 160-7 (Moeen Ali 1), 166-8 (Jordan 1), 166-9 (Billings 5) 171 all out (Rashid 2) (Topley not out 1)

Full scorecard

South Africa's Kyle Abbott, who took 3-26, on Sky Sports: "We got a couple of lucky wickets here and there. The luck of the draw fell our way at the back end.

"We know the Bullring - it's got a history of high-scoring games here. We thought anything under 180 ion here would be a good chase for us, so hopefully we've done enough for the batsmen. I think we're going to be OK. The stats lie in our favour here."

Image source, Getty Images