The Proteas suffered a heavy 41-run defeat to England in the opening T20I in Bristol, despite a remarkable 72 from Tristan Stubbs.
The target was 235. The Proteas won the toss and elected to bowl. Lungi Ngidi took 5-39. So what went wrong for David Miller and his chargers?
Well for one the outfield fielding was terrible, with dropped catches being the popular dish.
Jonny Bairstow, who scored 90 off 53 balls, was dropped four times alone at critical times in the match.
Andile Phehlukwayo was the most expensive bowler for SA, going for 33 runs in the 17th over. He finished with 1-63.
Stubbs was also expensive, despite Rossouw dropping Bairstow off his bowling, he went for 20 in one over.
Shamsi went for 49 without any wickets as the second most expensive bowler.
Ali took advantage of the Proteas’ mistakes and scored a key 52 off 18, while Dawid Malan’s 23-ball 43 was crucial too.
The Proteas’ chase was highlighted by an excellent knock from Reeza Hendricks.
He scored his 8th T20I half-century despite losing his partners Quinton de Kock (2), Rossouw (4) and Klaasen (20) before losing his wicket.
It was 86-4 with two balls left in the 10th over when Hendricks went out, leaving 21-year-old Stubbs with stand-in skipper Miller.
Stubbs stood out remarkably. He hit the second fastest half-century in T20I cricket for South Africa, reaching the milestone with 19 deliveries.
He hit 8 sixes and 2 fours for his 28-ball 72 and lost his wicket in the 19th over.
SA lost the match but a hero has been born.
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