All-round England beat South Africa in 1st T20I: Key stats
England beat South Africa in the first T20I to take a crucial 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Batting first, England managed 234/6 in 20 overs. Jonny Bairstow hammered a career-best 90. Moeen Ali struck England's fastest fifty. With the ball, Lungi Ngidi claimed a fifer. In response, SA (193/8) faltered with the bat to surrender the tie. Here are the records scripted.
England lost both their openers with the score reading 41/2. Thereafter, Dawid Malan (43) and Bairstow added a crucial fifty-plus stand. Bairstow and Moeen then got together to register a 106-run stand for the fourth wicket. With the bat, SA were off to a poor start and that impacted them. Tristan Stubbs played a blinder but it wasn't enough as England defended their score.
England (234/6) posted their second-highest score in T20Is. This was the 15th occasion in which they smashed a 200-plus score in T20Is. This was also the fifth time they scored in excess of 200 versus SA.
Bairstow powered his way to a whirlwind 90 from 53 balls. He smashed three fours and eight sixes. The senior batter has raced to 1,280 runs in T20Is at 27.82. This was his eighth T20I fifty and his highest score as well. Bairstow became the third Englishman to surpass 400 runs versus SA in T20Is (428). This was his 4th fifty versus SA.
Moeen got to his fifty from just 16 balls. This is the fastest fifty by an Englishman in T20Is. The previous best record was held by Liam Livingstone (17 balls versus Pakistan in 2021). Moeen also equaled Shai Hope's tally, who smashed a 16-ball fifty for West Indies versus Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Martin Akayezu of Rwanda also hit a 16-ball fifty versus Ghana.
Malan scored a 23-ball 43 for England. The southpaw hammered one four and four sixes. He now has 1,399 runs in T20Is at 41.14. Against SA, he has scored 338 runs at 56.33. Moeen powered his way to an 18-ball 52*. He smashed two fours and six sixes. He has accumulated 760 T20I runs at 20.00. This was his fifth T20I fifty.
Ngidi made his presence felt with a crucial fifer. The right-arm pacer has 45 T20I scalps at 17.13. This was his maiden fifer in T20Is. He has become the fifth Proteas bowler to claim a fifer in T20Is after Imran Tahir (twice), Dwaine Pretorius, David Wiese, and Ryan McLaren. He is also the first bowler to claim a five-wicket haul in ENG-SA T20Is.
SA's Tristan Stubbs hammered a sensational fifty. He got to his 50, having faced just 19 balls. He finished with a 28-ball 72, having smashed two fours and 8 sixes.
