Rain delays 2nd England-South Africa T20

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) –

England’s Stuart Broad (L) plays a shot as South African wicketkeeper AB de Villiers looks on during the first 20-20 international cricket match between England and South Africa September 8. Broad won the toss and elected to field against South Africa in the second Twenty20 international at Old Trafford.

Rain delayed the start of the second Twenty20 international at Old Trafford on Monday after England captain Stuart Broad won the toss and elected to field against South Africa.

Just as fast bowler Steven Finn was preparing to send down the first ball of the match, rain, which had already delayed the toss by 10 minutes, returned to send the players off the field before this floodlit contest had started.

World Twenty20 champions England made one change from the side that suffered a seven-wicket loss in the first Twenty20 at Chester-le-Street on Saturday to fall 1-0 behind in this three-match series.

Ravi Bopara, who has struggled for runs since returning to England duty following unspecified personal problems, wss dropped after scores of 16, nought, six, nought and six in his last five international innings.

He was replaced by Luke Wright, with the Sussex all-rounder taking the number three spot left vacant by the ongoing international exile of Kevin Pietersen.

South Africa made two changes.

They dropped Faf du Plessis and recalled in-form batsman Hashim Amla, who in the preceding Test and one-day series managed a huge combined tally of 817 runs at 116.71.

They also left out left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe, whose two overs at Chester-le-Street cost an expensive 22 runs, and brought back tall fast bowler Morne Morkel.

This series is acting as a ‘warm-up’ for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka later this month where England will defend the title they won in the Caribbean two years ago.

England: Craig Kieswetter (wkt), Alex Hales, Luke Wright, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jonathan Bairstow, Samit Patel, Stuart Broad (capt), Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, Jade Dernbach

South Africa: Richard Levi, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (capt/wkt), JP Duminy, Justin Ontong, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel

Umpires: Richard Illingworth (ENG) and Rob Bailey (ENG)

TV umpire: Tim Robinson (ENG)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)