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.

South Africa ‘A’ saw their preparations for their one-off four-day clash against the England Lions suffer a blow after they were handed a heavy innings and 50-run defeat by Sussex late on day three of their final warm-up match in Arundel on Friday.

The return of Zain Davids marked one of four personnel changes to Junior Springbok coach Chean Roux’s team for the World Rugby U20 Championship bronze playoff against France at the M. Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi on Sunday.

Davids will start in the loose trio with Junior Bok captain Ernst van Rhyn and No 8 Juarno Augustus after serving his suspension, while Manie Libbok moves from fullback to flyhalf in place of Curwin Bosch, who is nursing an ankle injury. Jeanluc Cilliers, meanwhile, will start at fullback.

Temba Bavuma was a rare shining light as South Africa ‘A’ struggled on day two of their warm-up match against Sussex in Arundel on Thursday.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) today named the Standard Bank Proteas squad for the three-match T20 International Series in England to be played immediately after the conclusion of the ICC Champions Trophy Tournament in June.

AB de Villiers will captain the side in the absence of regular T20 captain Faf du Plessis. “I would like to thank Farhaan Behardien for leading the side so ably in the recent series against Sri Lanka,” commented CSA National Selection Panel convener, Linda Zondi. “We are indeed fortunate in the quality of our team leaders and Farhaan remains very much part of this group.

South Africa ‘A’ four-day captain, Aiden Markram admits there is plenty of relief within their camp after finally winning a match on their tour to England on Sunday.  The tourists beat county side Hampshire by 251 runs midway through the final day of their first warm-up match in Southampton.

Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday said their Group B match against South Africa was crucial so the team wanted to be calm and execute their plans in order to seal the semi-finals spot of the Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament.

Man-of-the-Match Bumrah, who scalped two wickets for 28 runs in eight overs, also revealed the strategy and said the ball was not swinging so they wanted to bowl a tight line.