The Proteas will be hoping to make up for their T20I series defeat by England earlier this year when the two teams meet again from Friday. ANDRE HUISAMEN examines the Proteas’ T20I record against the English over the years.
This will be the sixth time South Africa and England go head to head in a T20I series and also the fourth time the hosting Proteas have home advantage.
The Proteas and England first played each other in the shortest format during the 2007 T20 World Cup when Graeme Smith’s men got the better of them in Cape Town.
However, the first-ever series between the two nations was due to take place in England in a once-off clash but heavy rain abandoned the encounter without a ball being bowled.
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A year later, the Proteas and England settled for a 1-1 series draw in South Africa before the same result was achieved in England back in 2012.
In 2016 an actual series winner was crowned for the first after the Proteas, led by the inspirational AB de Villiers, picked up wins in Cape Town and Johannesburg for a 2-0 triumph.
But, England’s adoption of a new brand of cricket ahead of the 2017 matchups helped them beat a weakened Proteas team 2-1 for their first series win over the South Africans.
Most of those English players were also on hand to claim victory in South Africa at the beginning of this year after coming back from defeat in the first T20I to win the second and third encounters in Durban and Centurion, respectively.
In total, though, the Proteas hold a slight upper hand with nine victories, three of which came in World Cups, over the eight of England, which include their 2010 and 2016 World Cup wins.
A series victory for Eoin Morgan’s men this time around will edge them in front of the Proteas in head-to-heads, but Quinton de Kock and his troops will be up for the challenge and be eager to rectify the wrongs from earlier this year.
The Proteas also boast a strong T20I record in South Africa, having won 13 out of all of the 27 T20I series played on home soil, losing eight of those while six series ended in a draw.
