Sept 12 (Reuters) – England will depart for their Twenty20
World Cup defence in Sri Lanka in good heart after squaring the
three-match series against South Africa with an emphatic 28-run
win at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
In a match reduced to 11 overs a side after heavy rain left
parts of the outfield soggy, England piled up 118 for five, a
total that proved more than enough as they restricted South
Africa to 90 for five in reply.
Opener Craig Kieswetter top-scored with 50 and big-hitting
Jos Buttler weighed in with an inventive cameo of 32 from just
10 balls.
Buttler smashed the ball to all parts, hitting three sixes
in the penultimate over bowled by Wayne Parnell from which
England took a massive 32 runs.
Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann took two wickets apiece as
South Africa’s challenge fizzled out once Hashim Amla was caught
in the deep for 36.
South Africa won the first game of the series at
Chester-le-Street and the second at Old Trafford was abandoned.
England begin their Twenty20 World Cup campaign against
Afghanistan on Sept. 21 in Pallekele. South Africa start the
previous day against Zimbabwe in Hambantota.
(Writing by Justin Palmer, editing by Ed Osmond)
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