Twitter Reactions: Moeen Ali's all-round brilliance helps England take 1-0 lead over South Africa

The first T20I between England and South Africa played at the County Ground in Bristol saw the hosts come out on top by 41 runs courtesy of an all-round performance from Moeen Ali, who has been delivering consistently in this format for a while. The Proteas also showed a great fightback chasing a mammoth total, but the hosts were too good for them on the given day.

The bowling of both sides were contrasting. While the South African bowlers conceded runs and failed to get rid of the English middle order in the death overs, the hosts were good at adding pressure on the opposition right from the beginning and also contained a lot of runs in the middle overs, which proved to be a difference maker in the end.

England register a comfortable win in the first T20I

South African skipper David Miller called it right at the toss and elected to bowl first. Meanwhile, this contest also marked the return of middle-order batting sensation Rilee Rossouw to the Proteas team after six long years. The visitors might have got it right at the toss, but their fielders did not do any justice to this decision.

South Africa had England on the mat early on after sending the destructive openers Jason Roy and captain Jos Buttler early before the middle-order duo of Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow added 71 runs for the third wicket stand. While Bairstow scored 90 runs off 53 deliveries, Malan made a 23-ball 43.

Finishing touches from Moeen Ali powered the hosts to 234/6. Ali scored 52 runs off 18 balls. In reply, the Proteas lost opener Quinton de Kock cheaply, and even though wickets kept on falling from one end, Reeza Hendricks batted valiantly from the other end by taking on the English bowling attack. Nonetheless, it was emerging player Tristan Stubbs who announced his arrival on the biggest stage with an outstanding knock in the middle order.

Hendricks, who fell prey to Moeen, scored 57 runs from 33 deliveries while Stubbs top-scored for the Proteas with a 28-ball 72 at an excellent strike rate of 257.1. Unfortunately for the visitors, these fighting knocks could not do much to rescue them, and they were eventually restricted to 193/8.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to England’s well-deserved win in the opening T20I.