Summary

  • 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

Live Reporting

Callum Matthews and Stephan Shemilt

  1. Get Involved

    #bbccricket

    Michael Wilde: How do England manage to make opposing players on their debut look like a genius?

    Fenners: This guy is buffet, slow dobblies, power play....hit him over the top!!!

  2. Eng 40-3

    Target 180

    You'd like to see Jonny Bairstow get a score here. He's had a tough time in international cricket over the past year and even found himself outside of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team despite not doing much wrong. He gets down low to paddle Shamsi for a couple, but it's only a drop in the deep ocean England are swimming in.

  3. Jonathan Agnew
    BBC cricket correspondent

    I hadn't heard of George Linde. He has 2-2 from two overs. There is lots and lots for Stokes and Bairstow to do.

  4. Eng 36-3

    Target 180

    Spin from both ends as Tabraiz Shamsi is introduced to bowl his left-arm wristies. Unusual. Remember, England chose to field and only chose one tweaker. Have they misread the conditions?

  5. How's stat?!

    Andy Zaltzman
    Test Match Special statistician

    Bairstow has now batted in all three formats at three, four, five and six.

  6. Eng 34-3

    Target 180

    Ben Stokes joins Jonny Bairstow on the ground where they flayed South Africa in Test cricket.

    So often England ask Stokes to do something special. This would have to be out of the top drawer.

  7. wicket

    WICKET

    Malan c Rabada b Linde 19 (Eng 34-3)

    The debutant has done it again!

    George Linde has his second wicket, this time the world's number-one ranked T20 batsman. Dawid Malan goes down to sweep very early and makes good contact, but only to backward square leg, where Kagiso Rabada dives forward to take an excellent catch.

    England are in the mire.

  8. How's stat?!

    Andy Zaltzman
    Test Match Special statistician

    Bairstow's scores before this game batting at four in T20 internationals: 18, 2, 8 and 1. But they were all a long time ago - the last time he batted four was 2015.

  9. Eng 32-2

    Target 180

    That's a lovely way for Jonny Bairstow to start, an open-face run to third man for four. You can tell he's been playing in the same IPL team as Kane Williamson.

  10. Jonathan Agnew
    BBC cricket correspondent

    Neither England opener will want to see those dismissals again. Lots for middle order to do now.

  11. Eng 28-2

    Target 180

    Jonny Bairstow is the new man. It's the white-ball batting equivalent of the 1980s West Indies pace bowling - they just keep coming.

  12. How's stat?!

    Andy Zaltzman
    Test Match Special statistician

    Ngidi 1-1 off one ball.

  13. wicket

    WICKET

    Buttler c Du Plessis b Ngidi 7 (Eng 27-2)

    Huge wicket!

    Jos Buttler completely shanks one straight up in the air, falling to Lungi Ngidi's first legal delivery. It's sliced to Faf du Plessis at extra cover, the former skipper tumbling back to take the catch.

    England in bother.

  14. Cricket ground bucket list

    Text 81111

    I have only seen one day of Test cricket live, which was see Brian Lara bat at his home ground in Trinidad against India in 2002. He scored 50-odd and the ground wasn't even half full, but when he came out to bat you couldn't hear yourself think. Near the end of play, a chap sat near me pulled a bottle of rum out of his bag and just shared it round... including the stewards!

    Hayden Reeve

  15. Eng 26-1

    Target 180

    This has actually been a loose over from Rabada, finished by a leg-stump full toss that Buttler, who has been quiet so far, clips fine for four more. Fourteen off. After grinding the gearbox, England are moving more smoothly.

  16. Cricket ground bucket list

    #bbccricket

    Rwanda cricket stadium is pretty special.

    Declan Morrison, not in Rwanda

    Rwanda cricket stadiumGetty Images

  17. Eng 20-1

    Target 180

    Crikey. What a shot this is. Up on the toes and driven off the back foot past mid-off. All class from Malan.

    I wonder if he'll get an IPL deal next year.

  18. Eng 16-1

    Target 180

    Malan getting into the groove. Picks the Rabada slower ball and slaps it to the cover fence.

  19. Eng 12-1

    Target 180

    Stunning night in Cape Town, but Newlands is eerily quiet. You can even hear the expletives of the players. The required rate is already touching 10.

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