England will depart for its Twenty20 World Cup defence in Sri Lanka in good spirits after squaring the three-match series against South Africa with an emphatic 28-run win at Edgbaston.
In a match reduced to 11 overs a side after heavy rain left parts of the outfield soggy, England piled up 5 for 118, a total that proved more than enough as it restricted South Africa to 5 for 90 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.
It was the second most expensive over in Twenty20 international history after Yuvraj Singh struck England captain Stuart Broad for 36 runs made up of six sixes in Durban during the inaugural 2007 World Twenty20.
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.
"It's nice it came off, it was one of those days," said Buttler, whose previous England best was 13.
"International cricket hasn't gone quite as I'd hoped so far, so it's nice to contribute to a winning side," explained the Somerset batsman, who celebrated his 22nd birthday last week.
Broad added: "Jos's was a game-changing innings. We know how good he is, he's shown on the county circuit that he does that, he's done it on the international scene now.
"It's always nice when you've got a guy who can hit it into the top tier and that was highly impressive. Jos was promoted up the order and those ten balls changed that game.
"We've got a squad that can do well in Sri Lanka but we don't want to look too far ahead."
South Africa captain AB de Villiers, involved in the Proteas preceding Test series win over England and the shared one-day campaign, admitted his team were second best in the final match.
"I thought we were completely outplayed today. We didn't start well and I made a few tactical errors," he said.
"We made mistakes in the field but there are lots of positives for the World T20, we've played some good cricket all summer and we're looking forward to Sri Lanka."
England begins its Twenty20 World Cup campaign against Afghanistan on September 21 in Pallekele.
South Africa start the previous day against Zimbabwe in Hambantota.
AFP/Reuters
Tags: twenty20, cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom, south-africa First posted September 13, 2012 08:33:45
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