England vs South Africa ಸ್ಕೋರ್ ಕಾರ್ಡ್, 1st T20I, South Africa vs England November/December 2020

This is set to be the sixth multi-game bilateral men’s T20I series played out between these sides, with England winning two of their previous five series against South Africa (D2 L1); the tourists are looking to register three such series victories on the bounce having triumphed earlier this year and in 2017. England have managed to record five wins in their last seven men’s T20I attempts versus South Africa (L2); the Proteas managed to register victories in seven of the 10 such encounters before this current run (L3). South Africa come into this series having suffered back-to-back men’s T20I defeats versus England on home soil; they won five games out of six in South Africa against them beforehand (L1). South Africa have beaten England both times they’ve taken on England at Newlands in men’s T20I cricket; they have only managed to win 33% of their matches inside two innings at the Cape Town venue (W4 T1 L7), the lowest rate of any home ground they’ve played at more than once in the format. England have suffered three defeats in their last four white-ball outings in men’s cricket (W1) whilst South Africa come into this encounter having logged three such victories on the bounce; all of those fixtures for both sides came against Australia. England have the lowest catching success rate of any Test-playing nation in men’s T20Is since the start of 2019 (76%); Chris Jordan (England) has dropped more chances than anybody else across that period, although five of those six drops were rated as hard chances. Only Pakistan’s Babar Azam (53 – 25 innings) has a higher batting average as an opening batsman in men’s T20Is than England’s Jos Buttler (51 – 11 innings) among those to record 10 or more knocks at the top of the order; he’s posted scores of 57, 44 and 77* in his last three T20I appearances, all of which came as an opener. Andile Phehlukwayo (South Africa) dismissed England’s Jonny Bairstow in all three men’s T20I games when these sides faced off in South Africa earlier this year; no bowler has removed him more often in this format (level with Mitchell Santner – 3). No bowler recorded more dot balls than England’s Jofra Archer during the recently concluded IPL campaign (175 – level with Jasprit Bumrah); he was the only bowler to record a dot ball rate of 50%+ among those to log more than 10 overs (51%). Adil Rashid is in line to become the seventh man to record 50 T20I appearances for England; he only requires one wicket to claim 50 in men’s T20Is, only three others have managed to do so for England (Broad, Jordan and Swann).