S.Africa send England in to bat in T20

South Africa won the toss and sent England in to bat in the first Twenty20 international at the Wanderers Stadium on Friday.

England opening batsman Alastair Cook had recovered from a sore throat and was named in the starting line-up, ending speculation that tour captain Andrew Strauss might be persuaded to reverse his decision not to play in the shortest form of the international game.

England did not select Kevin Pietersen, who joined the squad two days earlier after recovering from heel surgery. Pietersen is expected to resume playing next week ahead of the one-day international series.

The pitch looked good for batting and the weather was warm with a chance of thunderstorms.

Teams:

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Albie Morkel, Mark Boucher (wkt), Ryan McLaren, Roelof van der Merwe, Johan Botha, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt.

England: Paul Collingwood (captain), Alastair Cook, Joe Denly, Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Luke Wright, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Sajid Mahmood, James Anderson.

Umpires: Marais Erasmus, Brian Jerling (both RSA). TV umpire: Johan Cloete (RSA). Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND).