Damp debut for Baker as South Africa swipe undercooked England

They say that if you fail to prepare you should prepare to fail, and it turns out that is what England were doing across the two understaffed days of training with which they launched themselves into this series.

- Simon Burnton

England proceeded to get bowled out for 131 in 24.3 overs before Aiden Markram humbled their bowlers picking on the debutant Sonny Baker - and propelled South Africa towards victory by seven wickets, sealed with 175 balls to spare.

A week before this match Temba Bavuma's team, having just won a one-day international series in Australia, were in the middle of a convoluted, lengthy journey from Queensland to Yorkshire via Sydney, Singapore and London. But it was England who looked jet-lagged by the less long-distance but more recent whiplash turnaround from the Hundred. Several squad members, with two selected for this series opener, were engaged in that competition's final as recently as 48 hours earlier and in their absence the team's first training session on Sunday was attended by just a handful of players, their second had less than two-thirds of the squad present, and the outcome was a powder-puff display against match-honed and whip-smart opponents.

Harry Brook described talk of his team's poor build-up as "an excuse" and insisted: "We're not a team that makes excuses. We've just got to crack on now and put that performance behind us."