England eased to a nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the Twenty20 opener at the Ageas Bowl with Jonny Bairstow leading the way with a ruthless unbeaten 60.
Match scores: Ageas Bowl
England win by 9 wickets
South Africa inns: 142-3 (20 overs. De Villiers 65*, Berhardien 64*; Wood 2-36, Willey 1-34)
England inns: 143-1 (14.3 overs. Bairstow 60*, Hales 47*)
Match report
England eased to a nine-wicket victory over South Africa in the Twenty20 opener at the Ageas Bowl with Jonny Bairstow leading the way with a ruthless unbeaten 60.
With six changes made and the likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes absent England made light work of the 143 target with 33 balls to spare.
A disciplined shift with the ball, including a strong debut for Hampshire leg-spinner Mason Crane, paved the way for a victory in the first of this three-match series.
And the hosts enjoyed themselves as Bairstow, along with Alex Hales (47no), led the chase to see England home in style.
Jason Roy, dropped from the 50-over side for the Champions Trophy semi-final defeat to Pakistan, opened alongside Hales and eased any nerves with a big six in the third over.
He struck another maximum in the next over, following it up with a hat-trick of fours to show more of the form which saw him establish himself as an international regular.
A spot of over-confidence did for Roy in Andile Phehlukweyo's first over as he was trapped lbw reverse sweeping for 28 from 14 balls.
Bairstow was immediately into his stride, clipping his second delivery to the boundary, with Hales clearing the rope off Imran Tahir in the sixth over.
Bairstow then clubbed Tahir for a six before repating the trick off Tabraiz Shamsi.
A misfield from Phehlukweyo saw England bring up the century as Bairstow's reverse sweep sneaked under him as he dived on the boundary.
Hales sent another big shot towards Farhaan Behardien but he could not hold the catch and was made to pay as the next ball was sent for six.
Bairstow reached his second T20 half-century with another boundary, still finding time for another sumptuous four before hitting the running run.
Earlier, South Africa had won the toss and elected to bat, only to find themselves three down inside five overs.
Captain AB de Villiers though led the recovery with 65 not out from 58 balls and was well supported by Behardien (64no) in an unbroken stand of 110.
JT Smuts was bowled by David Willey with the first ball of the match and fellow opener Rezza Hendricks could only add three before being caught by Willey at mid-wicket off the bowling of Mark Wood.
David Miller (9) then edged into the gloves of Jos Buttler as Wood took a second wicket.
That left De Villiers and Behardien to rebuild and they would stay there for the remainder of the South Africa innings.
Liam Dawson came into the attack ahead of debutant and fellow Hampshire spinner Crane but the newcomer was soon thrown the ball and had a hopeful lbw appeal turned down and the 50 came up for South Africa off Crane's next delivery.
After three run-outs in their Champions Trophy exit at the hands of India, De Villiers survived a repeat as Eoin Morgan missed a shy at the stumps with his counterpart well short.
Morgan continued with spinners at both ends as the runs dried up for South Africa, Crane again with a failed lbw appeal in the 12th over.
De Villiers brought up his 50 in style, hitting his first six of the innings with a superb scoop.
Behardien followed suit at the start of the 19th over to record his first international T20 50 and he celebrated in style with a huge six but the Proteas target always looked under par.
Reaction
Match winner Jonny Bairstow: "I'm pretty pleased, I'm trying to progress all the time and there's a few shots in there that I probably didn't have about 18 months ago so with that comes confidence and I'm feeling good."
Eoin Morgan, speaking about Bairstow: "He's so hungry to do well and creating that mentality within the group has been very difficult because chances for him have been few and far between, but he's never let us down.
"When he's sitting behind somebody like Joe Root, who's not an easy player to kick out the side, he seems to bang on the door every time.
"I'm delighted for him, he's done really well here tonight and hopefully he'll continue."
And Morgan on his bowlers: "I'm very impressed with the way our spinners went about their business.
"The first couple of overs that they bowled, I thought they contained Behardien and AB really well, but they never let them get away from us which is a huge credit.
"Two inexperienced guys playing in their home ground managed to tie down one of the best players of our generation and a very good international cricketer.
"Full credit to the spinners and I thought our seamers backed it up really well at the end."
AB de Villiers: "It is difficult to sum up the performance. The result doesn't look good for us.
"We lost our way in the first six, had to rebuild and that cost us a bit.
"From the 13th over I tried to have a go. We were looking for those 10 runs an over and didn't get a lot of them, unfortunately. We got a couple there towards the end but not enough.
"It's not done and dusted, we go to Taunton and like all South Africans we always fight our way back so I'm expecting a really good performance in the next one."
