England beaten after collapse

Alastair Cook, who was dropped on nine and 12, top-scored with a scratchy 22 but could not prevent his side from being dismissed for a paltry 89 in the Twenty20 encounter.

He was one of just three batsmen to reach double figures as England lost their last eight wickets for 40 runs to be all out in 17.3 overs.

In response, Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid grabbed two wickets apiece, but it was not enough as Rilee Rossouw and Vaughn van Jaarsveld both hit 23 to guide their side home with 15 balls to spare against a weakened visiting attack missing frontline seamers James Anderson (knee), Graham Onions (back) and Stuart Broad (shoulder) through minor injuries.

Andrew Strauss, who no longer plays international 20-over cricket, was also absent with Joe Denly partnering Cook up front.

He took the first boundary off the third ball when he smashed Rory Kleinveldt away through the covers for four, while Cook's first runs came with a streaky edge down to third man from a good CJ de Villiers delivery.

That seemed to set the tone for the Essex batsman as he struggled to find his feet and was dropped in an eventful fourth over, the second and third balls of which saw the bowler De Villiers put down consecutive difficult chances off both batsmen. But luck finally went his way when a Denly (seven) edge was excellently snapped up by a diving Heino Kuhn behind the stumps.

Jonathan Trott (seven) was next to go when he smashed a widish De Villiers ball straight to Loots Bosman at point.

Paul Collingwood arrived in a hurry - smashing 10 from his first two balls bowled by De Villiers, who eventually returned two for 19.

At the other end, Cook was handed another life when Rossouw's one-handed effort at mid-on off the bowling of Juan Theron agonisingly popped out, but his captain was not so fortunate and lost his wicket when he was bowled by Thandi Tshabalala (two for 16) for 18, leaving the tourists at 49 for three in the process.