South Africa vs England T20I series 2020 – 1st T20I
1st T20I:
The first T20I of the T20 series of 3 T20I is going to be played at the Buffalo Park, East London.
England Tour of South Africa History
This is going to be sixth bilateral series between England and South Africa. Out of 5 series, both the teams won one each and two were concluded draw, the first ever bilateral series was one-off T20I in 2008, and the match was abandoned without toss. This is third visit of England in South Africa to play T20I series, and the team is still waiting for their first series win. One series was draw and one was won by the home side. Both the teams faced each other 16 times, in which South Africa won 8 matches, whereas, England won 6 matches, out of remaining two, one was called off without any result and one was abandoned. In South Africa, both the teams met in T20I 5 times, and the visitors won only one, which is back in 2009, whereas, the host won remaining 4.
Victory brings points:
The series would be very interesting to both the opponents, as currently England is on the 3rd positions with 265 points and South Africa is on the 5th position with 262 points. If England will win the series with three-nil, then the team will not just win the series first time, while visiting South Africa, but also the team will become the topper in the point table with 271 points, one point ahead of the top ranking Pakistan. On the other hand, the host have good opportunity to jump on the second rank, while beating visitors by 3-0, just ahead of Australia. In fact, South Africa is on the minimum risk, as the team would definitely lose the point, if defeated, but stay on the same position. If the first encounter will be won by England, then the teams will stay on the current position, but, in case, South Africa will win, then the teams will swap their position with each other.
Venue Weather:
Weather forecast of the East London shows the weather would be pretty clear and precipitation percentage would be extremely low. So rain chances would be nearly nil. But the wind speed would be nearly 25-30 kmph. The temperature would be pretty normal.
Toss and Pitch:
Just two matches were played on the ground, in which, once the team preferred to field first after winning the toss, and the team won. On the other hand, same thing happened for the bat first, after winning the toss, and the team won. Overall, the ground is for toss win match win till date. It would be interesting to see on the third encounter at the venue.
Particularly, for South Africa, the team won the toss once and the team won the match as well. The host never get a chance to chase any target in T20I on the venue, yet.
The first batting team won the matches once, and same for, the team, who batted second.
The lowest defended total was 160, and the highest successful chase was 169 runs on the venue. The first inning lowest total was 160, and the highest total was 165 runs. For the second inning, the lowest total was 126, whereas highest was 169 runs.
Average score of the first inning at the venue is 163 runs, and 148 runs for the second innings. The batting average for the first inning is 29.54 and 24.58 is for the second inning.
History Between the Teams:
The teams never met each other in T20I on the ground, the up coming encounter will be the first one.
T20I History at Venue:
The home side has average record, as the team won one match and lost another one.
Tentative XI for both the Teams:
South Africa:
The host would go with four pacers and one spinner, as the team has one spin batting all-rounder.
South Africa Eleven: Q de Kock, R. Hendricks, T. Bavuma, R van der Dussen, D. Miller, JJ Smuts, A. Phehlukwayo, B. Hendricks, D. Steyn, T. Shamsi, L. Ngidi
England:
The visitors might go with three pacers and one spinner, though the team would go with one pace all-rounder and one spin batting all-rounder as well.
England Eleven: J. Roy, J.Butler, D. Malan, E. Morgan, J. Denly, J. Bairstow, B. Stokes, S. Curran, C. Jordan, M. Parkinson, M. Wood
