England win with four balls to spare
Bairstow 86* off 48 balls
Stokes 37 (27), debutant Linde 2-20
Bairstow & Stokes add 85 from 34-3
SA 179-6: Du Plessis 58 (40)
Van der Dussen 37, S Curran 3-28
1st T20, Cape Town; three-match series
South Africa's first game since March
Tymal Mills
England bowler
I'm excited for a new series. It's one you think England should win, having played a lot more cricket than the South Africans over the past six to eight months.
You can't count out the South Africans. They have had a large contingent of players in the IPL who come into this in good form, the bowlers and De Kock as keeper, batsman and captain. We should be in for a great series.
The fact that South Africa aren't playing Anrich Nortje, who took 22 wickets and bowled the quickest delivery of the Indian Premier League, is a big surprise.
It's a T20 debut for all-rounder George Linde too.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (capt, wk), Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, Piet van Biljon, George Linde, Beuran Hendricks, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
Umpires: Allahudien Paleker, Adrian Holdstock; TV umpire: Bongani Jele.
In his pre-game news conference yesterday England captain Eoin Morgan admitted they don't know their best Twenty20 side with less than a year until the World Cup.
Today marks the start of a three-game series in South Africa, and they potentially have a further 14 games before the tournament in India.
"There are probably seven or eight guys who are pretty strong candidates to be in our strongest XI," said Morgan.
"Winning this series would be great, but it is more important we get players roles right and they feel comfortable."
One of the key things that Morgan kept repeating throughout his answers was the need for England to consolidate their batting line-up and find the right order.
Image source, Getty Images#bbccricket
Matty Nunn: Throwing something out there - this England XI is the greatest international T20 team that's ever been fielded. That batting line-up is absolutely ridiculous.
Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent
There was a lot of talk about pace bowling in this series before it began and it is a bit of a surprise that Mark Wood has been left out, with Eoin Morgan saying he wanted to have an extra all-rounder in the side.
There's lots of pressure on South Africa. Their administration is combusting, Covid has hit the camp and they haven’t played a T20 since February
South Africa captain Quinton de Kock on Sky Sports: "We're going to give guys opportunities. It's all game by game for us."
England captain Eoin Morgan on Sky Sports: "The wicket looks very good. The slight advantage is hopefully going to be chasing. Some players in both sides haven't played in a while; others have come from the IPL."
On leaving out Mark Wood: "We feel having an extra all-rounder and experimenting with the left-arm option in Sam Curran could pay dividends.
"We have an abundance of top-order batters. We're looking for players who can bat at four, five and six. We're looking for a very fluid order."
There's no Mark Wood or Mooen Ali for England.
Sam Curran gets the nod.
Eoin Morgan wins the toss and he fancies a chase.
Who makes England's team though?
Afternoon all!
How good is it to have international cricket back? It barely feels like we've been away.
We'll head straight out to the middle for the toss.
After a short break England are back in action and all eyes are on preparation for next year's T20 World Cup.
Image source, Getty Images