England v South Africa: Hosts win first T20 to wrap up multi-format series

Katherine Brunt and Sophia Dunkley starred as England won the first Twenty20 international against South Africa by six wickets to wrap up the multi-format series with two games to spare.

Those wickets took the 37-year-old past 100 T20 international wickets, and pulled her level with Anya Shrubsole on 102 - the most by an England women's player.

Laura Wolvaardt top-scored with 55, but, as has been the case throughout the white-ball leg of the tour, it was another below-par batting display from the tourists, who were without star all-rounder Marizanne Kapp because she has returned home for personal reasons.

England captain Heather Knight had spoken about being more aggressive in the powerplay and it saw them lose Danni Wyatt and Bryony Smith but 50-2 was a positive step forward.

Nat Sciver fell for 13, but Dunkley, opening for the first time in international cricket, smashed a 39-ball 59 to break the back of the chase.

Knight then steered England home with an unbroken partnership of 29 with Amy Jones, as the hosts won with 30 balls left.

Ayabonga Khaka was the pick of the South African bowlers, taking 3-13.

The win gives England an unassailable 10-2 lead in the multi-format series with T20s to come at Worcester on Saturday and Derby on Monday.

Brunt leads disciplined bowling display

This summer has seen Brunt retire from the Test format as she looks to prolong her white-ball career, with a particular focus on the Commonwealth Games this summer and the T20 World Cup in February.

Based on this evidence, she is as good as ever and England are lucky to have her.

Brunt was deadly accurate throughout, targeting the stumps, as she bowled opener Lara Goodball and captain Sune Luus in her first and second over respectively to become the seventh woman to take 100 international T20 wickets.

She returned later in the innings and cleverly followed Delmi Tucker to draw a catch for Dunkley in the covers, before she got the prize wicket of the set, Wolvaardt, in her final over, as the right-hander pulled to Sciver at deep mid-wicket.

Another abject batting display from South Africa, whose tactics of holding Wolvaardt back to four in the order were questioned by Test Match Special pundits, allowed Knight to rotate her bowlers at will and England to bowl tight to the stumps and restrict scoring.

Issy Wong was impressive on her T20 debut, bowling 14 dot balls in her 0-19 from four overs, while left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone (2-27 from four overs) and off-spinner Sarah Glenn (1-18 from three overs) produced performances befitting of their ranking as the number one and two-ranked bowlers in the world.

Dunkley grabs chance to impress

It has been a summer of promotions for Dunkley after she moved up to three and cracked a maiden ton in the ODI series.

The 24-year-old had recently smashed a 73-ball 123 at the top of the order in a T20 franchise tournament in Dubai and a maiden T20 half-century in her first innings there in international cricket suggests she has the potential to be a permanent feature at opener.

She was typically strong down the ground, hitting sixes over long-off and long-on, and she whipped through square leg for another.

After the loss of Wyatt and Smith - who returned to the side after four years - she could have gone into her shell but she continued to be aggressive and play how Knight and head coach Lisa Keightley have challenged their side to.

There was some luck along the way, as she sliced just short of deep third and was dropped at long-on by Shabnim Ismail on 49, but as she departed, after top edging to deep square leg, Knight ran after Dunkley and gave her a pat on the back.

The captain has asked for fearlessness because they know that is what is required to challenge a dominant Australia side and Dunkley showed that in abundance.

South Africa missed Kapp, who is one of the best bowlers in the world, and they again lacked the leadership and experience with the bat and in the field of usual captain Dane van Niekerk, who is missing the tour with an ankle injury.