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Jacques Kallis displayed an all-round performance to drive South Africa to a surprisingly easy victory over England by seven wickets. Superb bowling and fielding by South Africa proved why they are one of the favourites to win this Championship.

Wayne Parnell, Kallis and Roelof van der Merwe ripped through the English batting line up as they collapsed to a mere 111 – their lowest total in T20. Parnell was in his elements when he took three wickets for 14 runs to earn a Bowling Efficiency (BE) of 164. England’s hopes of building a decent total was dashed as Merwe took a stunning catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen off Albie Morkel’s maiden over. That proved to be the turning point of the match as Pietersen could be the danger man for South Africa. Merwe himself bowled well to capture two wickets. The rest of the English batting had no answers to the accurate bowling and tight fielding by the Proteas as only three of them reached double figures. Kallis also joined the party, picking two wickets.

111 was never going to be a challenging score for a team which boasts of a Batting Momentum (BM) of 237. England bowlers were not venomous enough to make early dents in the Proteas’ strong batting. Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs lived up to their expectations to steer South Africa to a comfortable victory in the end. Kallis carried through with a sedate 57 runs off 49 (Batting Momentum 66) balls to be judged the Man of the Match for his all-round excellence. Gibbs (30 runs off 30 deliveries) partnered Kallis for 72 runs in 68 balls which sealed the fate of England.