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MMA world slams ex-UFC star for ‘soccer kicking’ knocked out opponent in the face

Mixed Martial Arts fans smoked at fighter Daichi Abe after he landed a brutal soccer kick on his already knocked out opponent.

The former UFC welterweight flatlined Brazilian Marcos Yoshio de Souza in the second round of their 176lb showdown at RIZIN 37 late last month, The Sun reports.

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Abe shut De Souza’s lights off with a picture-perfect one-two in the second round of their showdown at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.

De Souza crumpled to the canvas after the right hand connected and lay flat on his back unconscious.

But Abe didn’t stop there, launching into and landing a brutal soccer kick straight on the fallen and defenceless De Souza.

And fight fans were far from happy with the sickening strike.

One tweeted: “Soccer kick def uncalled for. Guy should be ashamed.”

Another said: “I’m all for soccer kicks, but IDK about when the dude is already f***ing knocked out.”

And another said: “Unfortunately… this is legal.”

Soccer kicks are illegal in most MMA promotions across the world including the UFC, which has adopted the unified rules of the sport.

But the sickening strikes — as well as knees to the head of a downed opponent — are legal in Asian-based fight promotions ONE Championship and RIZIN.

Several fans, however, have called for the strikes to be allowed in all promotions.

One fan said: “Best rule set in MMA.”

Another said: “MMA needs soccer kicks and knees to a downed opponent. The Unified MMA rules is garbage.”

Victory over De Souza saw 30-year-old Abe move to 5-1 in his last six outings.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.

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Commonwealth Games 2022: Fans cruelled by semi-final scheduling, New Zealand vs Australia start time, cricket news

The Australian women’s cricket team will face New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games semi-finals this weekend, but most Aussie supporters won’t be awake for the must-win contest in Birmingham.

The semi-final fixtures were unveiled on Friday morning AEST, with hosts England scheduled to take on powerhouse nation India on Saturday at 11am local time.

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Meanwhile, world champions Australia will battle their trans-Tasman rivals in the evening timeslot, meaning fans back home hoping to cheer on Meg Lanning’s side will need to set an alarm for 3am AEST on Sunday morning.

Kiwi viewers have been treated to a slightly less painful 5am start time.

Swapping the fixtures would have given three of the competing nations a prime broadcast timeslot for their respective audiences, but accommodating India’s massive fanbase has seemingly been prioritized.

Australia was undefeated in the group stage, defeating India, Barbados and Pakistan to cruise through the knockouts.

New Zealand, meanwhile, suffered a horror collapse in their final group stage match against England on Thursday, managing just 9/71 from their 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat first at Edgbaston.

Maddy Green top-scored for the Kiwis with 19 as veteran seamer Katherine Brunt rattled the New Zealanders with a classy spell of 2/4 from three overs in the Powerplay.

“We were well below par and it wasn’t through lack of effort or lack of planning or anything like that, I think you just get days like that,” New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said.

“It’s never nice to be a part of but we’ve got to flush it down the dunny pretty quickly and move on to something that’s actually really exciting for us, playing in a semi-final against Australia at a Commonwealth Games.”

England chased the 72-run target with more than eight overs to spare and seven wickets in hand.

Regardless, Australia remain firm favorites to return home with the coveted gold medal around their necks, having not lost a 20-over match since March 2021.

“I think a lot of the pressure is going to be on Australia,” Devine said.

“They’ve certainly come into this competition as favorites and hopeful of taking that gold medal whereas a lot of people didn’t think we’d maybe make the semi-finals.

“We can really take that on board and just play with a bit of freedom and take it to the Aussies. We obviously know them really well, so I think our plans are going to be pretty spot on and likewise they know us really well too. It’s always just a great battle against the Australians.”

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Business

Airline IndiGo claims to have halved passenger disembarkation times

A low-cost airline has come up with what could be a game-changing idea to get passengers off airplanes quicker and keep the jets in the sky for longer.

One of the frustrations of air travel is the slow process of leaving the aircraft, with passengers having to squeeze through a single left hand door at the front of the plane.

If you’re at the back of the plane that can mean long waits as sometimes hundreds of people disembark in front of you.

To speed this up some airlines, including Virgin Australia and Qantas owned Jetstar, regularly allow passengers to disembark from a set of stairs at the rear of the airplane.

But India’s largest carrier IndiGo has gone one step further and has introduced a third door for passengers to exit through.

And uniquely, the third door is on the right hand side of the plane which is rarely – if ever – used as an exit in anything other than an emergency.

The carrier reckons it could almost halve the time it takes to get passengers off the plane from up to 13 minutes to a mere seven.

“The new Three-Point Disembarkation process will be carried out from two forward and one rear exit ramp, making IndiGo the first airline to use this process,” an IndiGo spokesman told India’s Hindustan Times.

A video uploaded by Indian business journalist Sumit Chaturvedi shows the new process with passengers leaving an IndiGo Airbus A320 aircraft via the various ramps.

While the giant Airbus A380 “superjumbo” often boards and disembarks by three doors, this is the first time it’s been done for a smaller narrow-body plane typically used on domestic and short-haul routes, such as the A320.

“An A320 aircraft usually takes around 13 minutes for its passengers to de-board the aircraft. However, the new process will make the drill faster and will reduce the disembarkation time from 13 minutes to seven minutes,” the IndiGo spokesman said.

That could be good for passengers who won’t have to hang around on-board.

But it could be a boon for the airline too. The quicker passengers can leave the plane, the shorter the turnaround time to get it back in the air with more fare-paying passengers on board.

Do time savings add up?

However, some are skeptical of the airline’s claims.

Ben Schlappig of US aviation blog One Mile At A Time questioned if all the claimed time savings would occur in real-life settings.

“The process of actually getting out the door is one bottleneck, but I’d think that getting down the aisle is another thing that takes time, and that’s still an issue, even with a second door in the front.”

Why plans usually board from the left

Traditionally, jets board and deplane from the left, despite doors being on both sides of the fuselage.

This helps to keep passengers separated from ground crew in what can be a hectic and potentially dangerous environment. For instance, staff loading bags into the aircraft from the right don’t have to worry about tripping over travelers who remain on the left.

In addition, the right hand door is often used to bring supplies on board an aircraft, such as water and food, at the same time as passengers enter and exit on the left.

Initially IndiGo’s routes in and out of Delhi as well as the cities of Mumbai and Bengaluru will feature Three-Point Disembarkation. But the airline has said it could roll out the new process across the whole country and its fleet of 181 A320s in just 90 days.

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Sports

Commonwealth Games 2022: Sri Lanka athletes missing, Birmingham police investigate, passports confiscated

Three members of the Sri Lankan team have gone missing at the Commonwealth Games, the team has confirmed.

The Sri Lankan team says it has not been able to find two athletes and one official team.

Local news agencies in Sri Lanka are reporting the team’s chef de mission, retired army general Dampath Fernando, has now confiscated the passports for all remaining athletes and officials the country brought to Birmingham.

Sri Lankan team spokesperson Gobinath Sivarajah has told The Telegraph in India that Birmingham police are investigating the disappearance and have launched an official inquiry

“We have asked all athletes and officials to submit their passports to our respective venue officials in all the villages after the incident,” he said.

“The police are investigating and the three cannot cross the UK borders. What has happened is really unfortunate.”

The team has confirmed reports that the athletes involved are a wrestler, a judo athlete and a judo coach. The team says they have not been since Monday.

The judo and wrestling events are taking place at Coventry Arena, a 30-minute drive from Birmingham.

It is feared the three individuals do not want to return to Sri Lanka, which is facing the worst economic crisis in the country’s history.

Sri Lanka had picked a 161-member contingent, made up of 110 athletes and l51 officials.

The athletes and officials were granted standard 180-day visas by the British government for the event.

The scandal has overshadowed one of the country’s greatest athletics results after Yupun Abeykoon won the bronze medal in the men’s 100m at Alexander Stadium in a time of 10.14 on Thursday morning (AEST).

At the Gold Coast Games in 2018, a third of the Cameroon team went missing after the event was completed.

It was revealed the following year that 230 athletes and officials had made asylum claims to remain in Australia. 217 of those claims were rejected.

Sri Lanka is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. The economy has collapsed under the weight of $75 billion of debt.

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Commonwealth Games 2022: Tahlia McGrath masterclass steers Australia to victory over Pakistan, cricket news

Tahlia McGrath just can’t be stopped.

The Australian put together another superb all-round performance in Wednesday’s Commonwealth Games match against Pakistan in Birmingham, extending her golden run in the T20 format.

McGrath top-scored with an unbeaten 78 (51) before claiming three wickets to help the Aussies secure a convincing 44-run victory at Edgbaston.

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The 26-year-old smacked 10 boundaries and a six over fine leg in the penultimate over, combining with opener Beth Mooney for an unbeaten 141-run stand as Australia registered a team total of 2/160.

It ranks as the largest third-wicket partnership for Australia in women’s T20Is.

McGrath later collected career-best figures of 3/13 from three overs with the ball, finding herself on a hat-trick in the 17th over after removing Bismah Maroof and Tuba Hassan in consecutive deliveries.

The South Australian’s career stats are nothing short of absurd – since making her T20I debut in October last year, McGrath has scored 339 runs at 169.50.

Her strike rate of 156.22 is arguably even more impressive.

McGrath has only been dismissed for less than 70 eleven in 12 T20 internationals; during last week’s thrilling victory over India.

“When I got out the first time, I did joke that I was going to retire and keep that average for the rest of my career,” McGrath told reporters after the win.

“I’m quite enjoying the T20 format, I just get to go out there, play with a bit of freedom, play my shots and I know that if it doesn’t come off, I’ve got that many explosive batters coming in behind me

“(My form) is a big surprise and I’m still pinching myself. But I just love playing in the Australian shirt and I love every moment I get to do it.

“So at the moment, it’s nice that I’m contributing to some team success and I’m just riding the wave and enjoying my cricket because it’s been a lot of fun.”

McGrath’s bowling has been equally as damaging in the T20 format, taking 10 wickets at 11.00 with a strike rate of 10.2.

She joins Pakistan’s Mohammed Hafeez on an illustrious list of cricketers to score 70+ runs and take 3+ wickets in a T20I more than eleven.

McGrath has essentially made herself undroppable, pushing superstar all-rounder Ellyse Perry out of the national T20 line-up.

“She just seems really clear on her role in our team, and also has got some great clarity on her own process within her own game,” Mooney said.

“She just comes out and takes the pressure off the other batter out there, which was me today, which I was really grateful for.

“She’s just really clear on her own game plan and she comes out with that confidence when she first walks out there, too, so that helps as well.”

Australian wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy and skipper Meg Lanning were cheaply dismissed in the Powerplay, each returning to the sheds for 4.

Healy’s form with the bat in the game’s shortest format may be cause for concern – since the start of 2021, she has averaged 8.77 with the bat in T20 internationals.

Aussie seamers Megan Schutt and Darcie Brown each snared early breakthroughs in the Powerplay before McGrath combined with spinners Jess Jonassen and Alana King to roll through Pakistan’s middle order.

Lanning’s side, who were undefeated in the group stage and remain red-hot favorites to win the coveted gold medal, will next face either England or New Zealand in the semi-finals on Saturday.

“Pressure is a bit of a privilege in my eyes,” Mooney said.

“There’s certainly no amount of pressure that’s more than what we put on ourselves to perform day in and day out.

“The challenge that awaits us is really exciting. Semi-finals are sometimes harder than finals. You have to be on your game from ball one.

“You want a spot in that gold medal match. We know on our best day we can beat anyone.”

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Sports

live updates, how many medals has Australia won, number, gold, silver, bronze, swimming, athletics

Team Australia dominated the Commonwealth Games medal tally in Birmingham in the opening four days, sitting comfortably in front – thanks largely to more dominance in the pool.

Australia claimed a stunning eight gold medals on day one, including five of a possible seven in the pool! On day two, Australia added five more golds.

The gold rush continued with nine on day three, highlighted by Emma McKeon making history with a record-breaking 11th Commonwealth Games gold medal when she took out the Women’s 50m freestyle final.

Australia has dominated again on day four with another NINE gold medals, coming in judo, lawn bowls, cycling and gymnastics — along with the usual big haul in the pool.

Australia has opened day five with a 72nd medal of the Games, this time a bronze in the men’s vault in artistic gymnastics.

DAY 5 LIVE: Athletics begins as Browning opens 100m campaign; McKeon and Simpson eye final swim day

DAY 4 WRAP: Aussies win NINE golds in wild Games medal blitz; Chalmers win ‘hard to enjoy’

Read on for more details and the full medal tally.

Australia sit on top of the medal tally with 31 gold, 20 silver and 21 bronze (71 total!), ahead of England and New Zealand.

The Aussies topped the tally with 198 medals — including 80 gold — in the Gold Coast four years ago.

You can track the live medal tally for every country here, with key Aussie wins and updates as they happen.

Click here for a full list of EVERY Aussie medal winner!

Commonwealth Games kick off in style | 00:34

SCHEDULE: Sport-by-sport guide to every day

AUSSIES: Our top hopes to watch

INTERNATIONALS: The big names set to light up the Games

COMMONWEALTH GAMES MEDALS TALLY (AS OF 5:30AM WEDNESDAY)

RANK/COUNTRY/GOLD/SILVER/BRONZE/TOTAL

1. Australia — 37, 28, 30, 95

2.England—28, 30, 17, 75

3.New Zealand—13, 7, 5, 25

4. Canada — 10, 14, 19, 43

5. South Africa—6, 5, 5, 16

6. India — 5, 4, 3, 12

7.Scotland—3, 8, 15, 26

8. Wales—3, 2, 8, 13

9. Malaysia — 2, 2, 3, 7

10. Nigeria — 2, 1, 4, 7

See the full live medal tally here.

DAY-BY-DAY MEDAL LIST

DAY FIVE

James Bacuetti claimed Australia’s first men’s gymnastics medal of these Games, winning bronze in the men’s vault. 20-year-old English sensation Jake Jarman won gold – his FOURTH of the Games – ahead of Fellow Englishman Giarnni Regini-Moran.

Aofie Coughlan took home the gold medal in the women’s 70kg judo final while Eileen Cikamatana set a new Games Record en route to a gold medal in the women’s 87kg weightlifting final.

in the swimming, Mollie O’Callaghan produced a stunning upset to win the gold in the womens’ 100m freestyle as Elizabeth Deckers won the women’s 200m butterfly.

nina kennedy secured the gold in the women’s pole vault.

DAY 5 LIVE: Athletics begins as Browning opens 100m campaign; McKeon and Simpson eye more gold

DAY FOUR

Australia ended day four with 31 gold, 20 silver and 21 bronze (71 total!), ahead of England and New Zealand.

Georgia Goodwin narrowly won gold in the women’s vault over Canada’s Laurie Denommee, while at the track, matthew glaetzer won gold in the men’s 1,000m time trial. Ellen Ryan won gold in the women’s lawn bowls singles and Tinka Easton caused an upset by claiming gold in judo.

in the pool, Kyle Chalmer won the 100m freestyle, Kaylee McKeown won the 200m backstroke and matthew levy claimed gold in the men’s 50m freestyle S7. Emma McKeon then narrowly clinched gold in the 50m breaststroke to extend her Games record to 12 golds, while the Aussies ended the night with victory in the men’s 4x200m freestyle.

Aussie weightlifter robbed of Gold?! | 00:26

Elsewhere, 49-year-old legend Jian Fang Lay has led the Aussie team to bronze in the women’s table tennis team event.

It began with victory in doubles alongside Yangzi Liu, who won her own singles game before Jian Fang Lay sealed the 3-0 over Wales with a singles victory of her own.

Kyle Bruce claimed silver in the men’s 81kg weightlifting after a heartbreaking jury decision overruled his final, gold-winning lift.

The Aussie men’s triples claimed silver in the lawn bowls, fighting back from 12-1 down in the final to level the score at 12-12 against England before falling 14-12.

DAY 4 WRAP: Aussies win NINE golds in wild Games medal blitz; Chalmers win ‘hard to enjoy’

GOLDEN HEARTBREAK: ‘Devastated’ Aussie in tears after gold ‘stolen away’

CHALMERS GOES ALL IN: Legends not surprised by last-minute withdrawal

BIG BLOW: Diamonds’ dream run soured as star sidelined with calf injury

Jian Fang Lay led the Aussies to bronze in table tennis!
Jian Fang Lay led the Aussies to bronze in table tennis!Source: Getty Images

DAY THREE

Australians Sam Harding and Jonathan Gorlach kicked off the day with superb silver and bronze medals in the men’s PTVI triathlon final.

Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown then added two more gold in the pool taking out the Women’s 50m freestyle and the 100m backstroke respectively.

McKeon led home meg harris in silver with Shayna Jack (24.36) finishing third.

In the men’s 50m breaststroke, Zac Stubblety-Cook (59.52) took home bronze.

The Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team then completed a dominant campaign in the pool by breaking the world record.

Georgia Godwin won the all-round rhythmic gymnastics women’s final.

Australia’s Women’s 7s rugby side then put the pain of Tokyo behind them to claim gold in the final against Fiji.

In track cycling, matthew richardson won the men’s final sprint.

Kristina Clonan took home gold in the 500m time trial.

Georgia Baker won the women’s 25km points race, while Jessica Gallagher picked up her second gold medal of the Games in the Women’s tandem 1000m time trial with pilot Caitlyn Ward.

Day 3 WRAP: ‘Extraordinary’ Aussies break world record, McKeon makes history

‘It is shocking’: Thorpe stunned as England World record holder toppled in ‘unbelievable’ boilover

SHOCK CRASH: Cyclist catapults into crowd in horror scenes after Comm Games crash

‘Lost my s***’: Boxall goes bonkers AGAIN as Aussie coach celebrates WR win

‘Took all my courage and energy to swim’: Chalmers stuns in raw, emotional interview

DAY TWO

madison de rosario took out the women’s T53/54 marathon in style, dominating the field to win with a Commonwealth Games record time of 1:56:00.

Jess Stenson won the women’s marathon with an incredible run, going better than her two bronze medals in Glasgow and the Gold Coast.

It was another ripping day in the pool, with katja dedekind winning a gold meal in the women’s 50m freestyle S13 while both the men’s and women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay finished first.

There were silver medals for maeve plouffe in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit, Brendon Smith in the men’s 400m IM, Emma McKeon in the women’s 100m butterfly and the artistic gymnastics team.

DAY 2 NEWS

WRAP: McKeon makes history amid swim gold rush; rugby stars win thriller

‘A load of s***’: Chalmers explodes at media for ‘ruining it all’ over love triangle claims

‘Dream big’: ‘Extraordinary’ journey behind ‘one of the great’ Aussie athletics triumphs

‘I was just guessing’: New Aussie cult hero’s shock reveal after ‘epic’ career-best run

DAY ONE

matt hauser had the honor of being the first Australian to win a medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, taking home the silver medal in the Men’s Triathlon Sprint Distance Final.

Ariarne Titmus won gold in the women’s 200m freestyle, 18-year-old Aussie Mollie O’Callaghan claimed silver in an unbelievable late charge, ahead of Madison Wilson.

Elijah Winnington won gold in the men’s 400m freestyle, ahead of fellow Aussies Sam Short and Mack Horton. Zac Stubblety-Cook won gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke while Kiah Melverton took silver in the women’s 400m Individual Medley.

In the final race of night one, Australia won gold in the mixed 4x100m relay.

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Business

Sexy Russian ‘Crazy’ hotel near Moscow that you should avoid at all costs

Today I was minding my own business, trawling the internet for interesting hotels when I came across the formidably named Special Hotel ‘Crazy’ on booking.com.

And I would like you to come on a wild, frightening and mind-boggling journey with me as we drink in the photos from this utterly bizarre themed hotel on the outskirts of Moscow.

(The words “kiss”, “love” and “sex” give a not-so-subtle hint as to what this room is all about. That’s right: crosswords.)

Oh wait, we have more clues. Turns out there’s a bath on a tiled roulette wheel in the other corner. It’s a Vegas-themed room I guess? Also love the curtain in the corner, for a window that is probably very much wished for, but doesn’t exist.

One of my worst nightmares is entering a hotel room to find someone “in character” in the room. As such I find many of these images rather triggering.

Oh god, no room is safe. REFUND! REFUND!

My friend from primary school had Italian grandparents and I swear their bedroom in the 1980s was the inspiration for this particular room.

It’s particularly charming how nobody quite knew where to put the television.

“I know, let’s put it right next to the very eye-catching reverse cycle airconditioning unit.”

This is either some kind of medieval inn vibe, or a ski chalet, or an Early Settler Furniture showroom.

Oh wait, no, *that* is the ski chalet.

The soccer room is very well done. Especially the way they have strung 900 lights up on the ceiling so you feel like you are in the middle of a stadium. It’s very relaxing.

I finally see what hotel rooms have been missing: A mosaic-tiled face that judges you while you’re on the toilet.

Imagine you accidentally booked this with a colleague on a work conference …

… Somebody is calling HR first thing on Monday morning.

To the right is the door you run screaming through.

Another one that is slightly difficult to nail down. Parisian brothel from a rather poor neighbourhood?

Ohhh… it could be an old-timey dress shop. Or a visual merchandising training facility.

This must be the Presidential Suite, because that room has an actual window. Doesn’t even matter what the theme is. Window! We’ll take it.

… on second thoughts.

Another thing we didn’t realize hotels had been missing until now – port holes in the bathroom so you can keep an eye on your partner at all times.

This has just the right amount of kitsch to actually work. Crank that big old oil heater up and pretend you are in the Maldives instead of on the outskirts of Moscow.

Okay what have we here? Are we in Nepal? India? In a wooden crate filled with items bound for an Ishka store?

Oh, we’re in the Karma Sutra room. Don’t look too closely at the images on the wall, children.

This must be the budget room. Geez it looks nice and peaceful.

So it seems the directions to the rooms are done in the style of an airport terminal? Don’t hate that. Points for originality.

It actually turns out, upon further investigation, that “the style of the individually decorated rooms represent different countries and cities”.

So you have the “Royal – Moscow” room, the “Inquisition – Madrid” (oh so *that’s* what that was all about), and the “Sports – London” for example.

Imagine spending a week there and traveling the world through their different themed rooms.

Pop that on your travel bucket list.

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Sports

South Africa defeats England by 90 runs, Jos Buttler, record as captain, Matthew Mott, Tabraiz Shamsi, latest, updates

Tabraiz Shamsi’s maiden five-wicket Twenty20 international haul sealed South Africa’s 90-run thrashing of England on Sunday as the Proteas completed a 2-1 series win.

The 32-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner took 5-24 as England, set 192 for victory, collapsed to 101 all out with 20 balls to spare at Southampton after losing their last eight wickets for 49 runs.

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Earlier, in-form South Africa opener Reeza Hendricks hit 70 — his third fifty of the series — and Aiden Markram made an unbeaten 51 as the Proteas posted a competitive 191-5.

Recalled left-arm quick David Willey took 3-25.

Shamsi’s haul was all the more impressive given his expensive return of 0-49 in England’s series-opening win in Bristol.

But South Africa have been much improved in the field since that 41-run defeat and this win gave them a first T20 series success in England, as well as their first white-ball bilateral series victory in the country since 1998.

By contrast, defeat left England still searching for a first series win under new white-ball captain Jos Buttler following one-day international and T20 reverses against India and a drawn ODI campaign with the Proteas.

Moeen SMACKS fastest 50 ever for England | 01:46

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Jonny Bairstow (27) was the only England batsman to make more than 20, but Buttler and white-ball coach Matthew Mott do have at least seven matches at this level scheduled in Pakistan in September in which to turn things around before the T20 World Cup in Australia.

England’s chase suffered an early setback when Buttler was out for 14, caught at short third man off spinner Keshav Maharaj.

The out-of-form Jason Roy fell for 17, caught behind off Anrich Nortje — in after South Africa decided against risking fellow fast bowler Kagiso Rabada’s injured ankle ahead of next month’s three-Test series in England.

And when Moeen Ali was brilliantly caught one-handed by a leaping Tristan Stubbs off part-time spinner Markram, the hosts were 59-4.

Shamsi then cleaned up Liam Livingstone before taking two wickets in two balls, with Sam Curran caught in the deep before Willey was clean bowled.

Jos Buttler is still yet to win a white-ball series as England skipper.  (Photo by Steve Bardens / AFP)
Jos Buttler is still yet to win a white-ball series as England skipper. (Photo by Steve Bardens / AFP)Source: AFP

Chris Jordan survived the hat-trick only to be lbw to Shamsi. Adil Rashid holed out off Shamsi before Maharaj ended the match when he dismissed Bairstow with the aid of a catch by David Miller — a memorable way for the South Africa captain to finish his 100th T20 international.

England’s decision to recall Willey in place of Richard Gleeson reaped an early reward when he had potential danger man Quinton de Kock chopping onto his stumps for a three-ball duck.

But South Africa recovered, with the Proteas 53-1 at the end of the powerplay. Hendricks completed a 42-ball fifty and he then upped the tempo with three boundaries in a 16th over bowled by Curran.

He was eventually well caught by wicketkeeper Buttler off the expensive Jordan (1-52).

But Markram, back in South Africa’s T20 team for the first time since last year’s World Cup, having first provided solid support, went on to a 36-ball fifty before Miller chipped in with a quickfire 22.

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