England v South Africa commentary

England win by 28 runs The Buttler did it. The result was rarely in doubt from the moment Jos took 30 runs off one Parnell over to propel England to a score that always looked pretty much unchaseable despite another easy-on-the-eye innings from the prolific Amla. This series ends 1-1. Next stop, Sri Lanka.

Over 11 - South Africa 90/5 (JA Morkel 17, Kallis 8) Dernbach tries a couple of his back-of-the-hand jobs and bungs them down the legside. Not that it matters. Drop! If you're going to produce a comedy dropped catch, do it when the opposition need 30 to win off three balls. Kallis slices to deep point, and Lumb sets himself underneath it before barely laying a hand on the ball. The next ball is drilled out to him on the ground, and he misfields again. Edgbaston crowd cheering him on. Not sure Jade finds it funny. Albie Morkel carves the last ball to third-man for a couple as England square the series with a 28-run win.

Over 10 - South Africa 78/5 (JA Morkel 14, Kallis 1) Albie Morkel swats a Bresnan bouncer into the groundsman's shed for six. Awesome strike. Bit-part player Kallis is in at number seven to pick up a single down the ground. Bresnan ends with 2/14 from his two overs.

WICKET! Ontong c Morgan b Bresnan 10 Ontong slices a high full-toss to Morgan at point. The batsman wants it called a no-ball, but it's just below waist height.

Over 9 - South Africa 68/4 (JA Morkel 5, Ontong 10) Ontong slogs over wide long-on for a six which is, remarkably, South Africa's first of the series.

Over 8 - South Africa 55/4 (JA Morkel 1, Ontong 1) Sensational over from Jade Dernbach, going through his full repertoire of variations. Albie Morkel and Justin Ontong can barely lay a bat on him.

Over 7 - South Africa 53/4 (JA Morkel 0) That over removes any lingering doubt about the outcome, you'd imagine. Swann 2/11 from two overs.

WICKET! Amla c Bairstow b Swann 36 Amla's sensational summer of runs comes to an end. Same combo as did for De Villiers as Amla flicks a full delivery out to Bairstow on the boundary. Just the 900 runs in England for Hash. He's handy.

WICKET! De Villiers c Bairstow b Swann 2 Big wicket for England as one man who could've 'done a Buttler' toe-ends a sweep to deep square-leg where Bairstow makes no mistake.

Over 6 - South Africa 51/2 (Amla 35, De Villiers 2) Amla swats a Broad bouncer to the midwicket boundary. Not his most elegant shot, but it is apparently the 100th four he's hit this summer. Remarkable. Good over from Broad, though, forcing Amla into a few desperate air shots. Which hasn't happened often this summer.

Over 5 - South Africa 44/2 (Amla 29, De Villiers 2) It will probably be in vain this time, but Amla is playing another absolute gem. His latest boundary is an impossibly delicate reverse sweep off Graeme Swann placed inches wide of Kieswetter's right foot. A thick outside edge brings three more for Amla who is closing on 900 runs for the summer.

Over 4 - South Africa 34/2 (Amla 21) That's the problem with run-chases like this. The required rate just keeps getting sillier and sillier and does so quicker and quicker even after you get nine runs off an over.

WICKET! Du Plessis c Morgan b Briggs 8 Deserved wicket for Briggs, who has been put away to the boundary a few times by Amla but is too good for mere mortals like Du Plessis, who tries to play to leg against the ample spin and gets a leading edge to Morgan at cover.

Over 3 - South Africa 25/1 (Amla 14, Du Plessis 8) Stuart Broad brings himself on to bowl, and is dispatched for offside boundaries by each batsman. Controversially it's Du Plessis' that is the more attractive, lofted calmly over extra-cover after Amla edges to third-man.

Over 2 - South Africa 13/1 (Amla 9, Du Plessis 3) Good over from Bresan. Du Plessis off the mark with a thick outside edge through point for three - Lumb doing brilliantly to flick the ball back just inside the rope - and Amla dabbing the last ball of the over into the offside for a single.

WICKET! Levi b Bresnan 1 Richard Levi has looked quite some distance out of his depth in this series and departs for just a single here as he tries to swat a full delivery on off stump through square-leg with a horizontal bat with predictable results.

Over 1 - South Africa 9/0 (Levi 1, Amla 8) Briggs handed the new ball. Another eventful over to start the South Africa innings as the Great Hashim Amla strokes a couple of gorgeous offside boundaries either side of a pair of deliveries that absolutely rip past his outside edge.

England 118/5 Well that was worth the wait. Kieswetter and especially Buttler were magnificent. England managed 118 runs in the first Twenty20 of this series; they've got the same total in an Eleven11. South Africa must score at 10.82 per over for victory.

Over 11 - England 117/5 (Buttler 32, Bresnan 1) Two singles for Bresnan and Buttler to end the innings. How dull.

WICKET! Bairstow b Morkel 4 Middle stump getting a battering. Jonny Bairstow guides his first ball to the third-man boundary but is bowled by a pinpoint yorker next ball. The last 10 balls: 6 6 2 0nb 4nb 4 6 2 6 W 4 W. All the way up to 11.

WICKET! Kieswetter b Morkel 50 Kieswetter misses an attempt to paddle the ball a la Buttler and is bowled, but not before bringing up a superb half-century by clobbering big Morne over the ropes at midwicket.

Over 10 - England 106/3 (Kieswetter 44, Buttler 31) Sensational. Absolutely sensational. Jos Buttler, take a bow: he's just taken 30 runs from Parnell's over. The first two balls are struck gloriously down the ground for sixes before a pair of free-hits are paddled over short fine-leg for a pair of fours. Showing each shot isn't a fluke by playing each of them twice. A smear over midwicket brings six more before just the two from the last ball of the over. Game-changing stuff; England now have a massive total on a pitch helping the slow bowlers.

Over 9 - England 74/3 (Kieswetter 44, Buttler 1) Jos Buttler the new batsman. Kieswetter slightly mars Botha's fine figures by smashing the last ball of the over for a glorious straight six. Looks so much better when he runs straight at the bowler rather than towards midwicket. Botha ends his three overs with still-excellent figures of 2/19.

WICKET! Morgan c Ontong b Botha 5 Funny innings from Morgan. Couldn't get going, and now skies Botha to mid-on where Justin Ontong takes an easy catch. Botha comfortably the pick of the bowlers here, and he's the man to bowl three overs in this innings.

Over 8 - England 63/2 (Kieswetter 34, Morgan 5) Kieswetter slaps a couple of legside twos either side of a smear over long-on for six as Jacques Kallis joins the attack. Looks like a pitch to take the pace off the ball.

Over 7 - England 52/2 (Kieswetter 23, Morgan 5) Dreadful piece of cricket here. Botha bowls down the legside, Kieswetter misses it, and de Villiers muffs the stumping chance. To cap it off, the excitement about the stumping causes the umpires to forget to signal the wide. Overall, though, it's been excellent stuff from South Africa's spinners to drag back a situation that got very messy very early thanks to Morne's misplaced radar.

Over 6 - England 50/2 (Kieswetter 22, Morgan 4) The slowness of the pitch highlighted here as Morgan tries to pull a short ball from Peterson but is horribly early on the shot and is hit in the midriff with the ball on its way back down. There's an lbw shout which is actually probably quite close given how low Morgan had got. He then sends a reverse-sweep out towards deep point, where Parnell bails out of the catch and takes the ball on the bounce. Not sure, but reckon he should've gone for that.

Over 5 - England 44/2 (Kieswetter 20, Morgan 0) Kieswetter, who hammered a straight boundary earlier in the over, keeps the strike with a single from the last ball. He's currently seven runs ahead of extras in the race for top-bat honours.

WICKET! Wright c Amla b Botha 6 Another fine catch. Wright survives a marginal lbw shout from Johan Botha but perishes next ball as he aims legside but sends the ball steepling out towards backward-point off a leading edge, and Amla makes good ground before taking a tumbling catch.

Over 4 - England 37/1 (Kieswetter 14, Wright 6) Wides continue to play a key role for England as Robin Peterson bungs one down the legside and De Villiers can't gather. Richard Levi prevents the boundary, but it helps England on their way to a 10-run over. Suspect they're targeting 100 here, and they're bang on course as long as extras continue to play their part.

Over 3 - England 27/1 (Kieswetter 11, Wright 4) Albie Morkel replaces his red-faced brother. Tidy enough stuff. With the ring fielders all set deep and content to concede singles, Morkel's job is to prevent boundaries. And, you know, hit the cut strip. He achieves both these aims. That's the end of the powerplay. It's been fun.

Over 2 - England 21/1 (Kieswetter 9, Wright 1) Luke Wright off the mark first ball, but Kieswetter can get nothing from the final two. Good start for Parnell.

WICKET! Lumb b Parnell 5 Things continue happening. Lumb drives a long half-volley to the extra-cover boundary but two balls later loses his middle stump to a good nip-backer. Better length this time from the bowler, allowing the ball to find the sizeable gap betwixt bat and pad.

Over 1 - England 16/0 (Kieswetter 9, Lumb 1) Extraordinary start to this game. Morne Morkel starts with a high full-toss - lucky not to be no-balled - but that's merely the aperitif before the widest wide you've ever seen. Honestly, it makes Steve Harmison's opening salvo from the 2006/7 Ashes look like nagging line and length. The ball lands halfway across the adjacent strip to the cut one and runs away to the fine-leg boundary. Asonishing. The next ball is also a wide, and Morkel falls over after delivery. He then bowls two leg-stump half-volleys that Kieswetter smacks through midwicket for a pair of boundaries. It's an interesting start. On early evidence, this game is definitely one louder. The crowd are, anyway. They sound pleasantly refreshed.

Summer of sport The greatest British summer of sport ever ends with a game of cricket starting at 20:12. Clever chaps these umpires.

England C Kieswetter (wk), MJ Lumb, LJ Wright, EJG Morgan, JC Buttler, JM Bairstow, TT Bresnan, GP Swann, SCJ Broad (capt), DR Briggs, JW Dernbach.

South Africa RE Levi, HM Amla, JH Kallis, AB de Villiers (capt, wk), F du Plessis, JL Ontong, JA Morkel, J Botha, RJ Peterson, WD Parnell, M Morkel.

Team news Briggs, Tim Bresnan and Michael Lumb come in. Alex Hales, Steven Finn and Samit Patel sit out. Suggest that's giving squad players a game. Can't see any way those three absentees don't play the opening game against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka. SImilar stuff from South Africa: Dale Steyn and JP Duminy out, Wayne Parnell and Faf du Plessis in.

The toss A shivering AB de Villiers wins the toss and chooses to bowl first. Asked what he makes of conditions, AB replies simply and accurately: "Cold."

One louder Spinal Tap cricket. It's the way forward.

Eleven11 There you go. Eleven11 game on the cards with the toss at 7.52pm

Start time We have a start time! Play will start at 8.12pm. Don't know yet how many overs we'll get.

Inspection There will be another inspection at 7.40pm. Not the news we were hoping for, to be honest. Thought the next announcement would be a toss time. Can't really see what's going to change in the 15 minutes before the next inspection.

Cap fits England are gathering together on the outfield for a cap presentation for Danny Briggs. This tells us two things: one, Danny Briggs is playing and two, we'll be getting some cricket at some point tonight.

Grumpy The umpires still look grumpy. There are some double teapots. I'll be honest, this doesn't look promising. I know it's not ideal, but I really think they should be getting a game on tonight.

Inspection The umpires are out in the middle again. Loads of people out there as well. Umps in conversation with both captains. Think there are still areas of real concern; if all was well then this protracted conversation wouldn't be happening. The square is fine; it's the outfield that's the problem.

Sheets The last sheet being gingerly removed from the square now. Looks like the going is till moist to tricky.

Formats Bumble on Twitter reckons if (and remains a big if) it's an 8pm start would mean a Thirteen13 game. Yet another format we've given to the world.

Second inspection At 7.15pm. Can't see play starting much before 8pm (at which point we'd get about a Fifteen15 I reckon). Still pretty wet out there, and even with the sun now shining it's not exactly cracking flags.

Umpires As we move from 'toss delayed' to 'start delayed' the umpires are out in the middle squidging around what remains a damp old outfield.

Update There shouldn't be any more rain tonight, so we should get a game in. Not sure when it will be, though. Large mopping-up operation under way, and the covers are starting to come off.

Inspection At 6.30pm.

Delay The toss has been delayed. More news as we get it.

Lashing down at Edgbaston right now, but this is the last band of rain for the night. Still 45 minutes until the scheduled start.

Welcome A damp end to a damp cricketing summer in store as Edgbaston - a ground that has suffered more than most this international summer - hosts the final Twenty20 clash of the series with England bidding to level the series against South Africa ahead of the World T20 which gets under way next week. It's currently raining in Birmingham, but the picture's not all doom and gloom. There's one more band of heavy rain, but after that the radar looks clear. All about the speed of the mopping-up operation when the rain, rain goes away.

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