World Cup-winning trio Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Mark Wood were all included in England’s line-up for the first of three Twenty20s against South Africa at a blustery East London.
Stokes, Buttler and Wood were all rested for the drawn one-day international series but, with the countdown now on ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup, they have been brought back for the series opener.
Jason Roy, Moeen Ali and Joe Denly were also included as England made six changes from their most recent T20 in November, when they beat New Zealand at Auckland in a super over to secure a 3-2 series success.
The tourists will wear black armbands at Buffalo Park in memory of the daughter of former England and Glamorgan batsman Steve James, who announced on Monday that 21-year-old Bethan had “suddenly passed away on Saturday evening”.
