England bowl in first T20 against South Africa
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England won the toss and decided to bowl in the first Twenty20 international against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town on Friday.
Captain Eoin Morgan said: “The wicket looks very good and we feel there is a slight advantage here in chasing down.”
Morgan said a big challenge for England was deciding on their best batting order.
"We have an abundance of batters. We want to look at our heavily weighted top order and hopefully get it right."
South Africa gave a first T20 cap to left-arm spinning all-rounder George Linde who will play alongside left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi.
"It (the pitch) looks a bit dry so we thought we’d give George a go,” said captain Quinton de Kock.
Fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who had a successful Indian Premier League tournament, was surprisingly not included in the South African team.
It is South Africa’s first international match since March. No spectators were allowed in the ground because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Teams
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (capt), Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Heinrich Klaasen, Pite van Biljon, George Linde, Beuran Hendricks, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.
England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
Umpires: Adrian Holdstock, Alluhadien Palekar.
Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)