SA vs ENG 1st T20: Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow blast England for a win- Moeen Ali scored England’s fastest half-century in Twenty20 Internationals and Jonny Bairstow’s golden summer continued with a brutal 90 in a 41-run victory over South Africa on Wednesday in the first match of their three-game series. Follow more South Africa tour of England updates with InsideSport.IN
England posted a massive 234 for six in their 20 overs, helped by the small boundaries at the County Ground, as Moeen took 16 balls to reach 52 before he fell to South African seamer Lungi Ngidi who recorded career-best figures of 5-39.
Opener Reeza Hendricks scored a brisk 57 from 33 deliveries to get the innings under way, but the tourists left themselves with too much to do at the end.
South Africa were at times their own worst enemies in the field, handing Bairstow four lives with a succession of relatively simple dropped catches.
He was out for 90 from 53 balls having put on an exhilarating 106 runs from 35 deliveries with Moeen for the fourth wicket.
South Africa bowled a shorter length to try to negate the small straight boundaries, but Bairstow and Moeen punished them square of the wicket as England struck 20 sixes, well past their previous T20 record of 15.
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