The welcome
South Africa allowed themselves a quiet first over that gave no hint about what was to come. The very next over, as soon as Reece Topley offered some width, their real intent was unveiled. Topley bowled it full and fairly far outside the offstump. Quinton de Kock reached for it and reached hard. The ball sailed over point and into the stands. The battle lines had been drawn.
The blunder
Topley's opening over ended up costing 15 and he was sent to mid-off to ponder straightening his line when Hashim Amla drove Moeen Ali towards him. Topley had to move to his left to take the catch at waist height and got himself into the perfect position before taking his eye off the ball and spilling the chance. Amla was on 9 at the time and went on to make 58. So yes, it could get worse.
The power and the placement
De Kock's first four fours and three sixes came with brute force but he showed there was more to his game than his just power. There was placement too. The ball after Amla was dropped, Moeen bowled one from over the wicket to de Kock, who used the angle and played the ball late to trickle it just past Jos Buttler and bring up South Africa's fifty, off 23 balls.
The misfield
England bowled three overs without conceding a boundary and had started to pull things back when Alex Hales released the pressure with a misfield that had Joe Root seething. JP Duminy hit the ball down the ground to long-on where it bounced one before reaching Hales, who would have a simple pick up and throw back to the bowler. But Hales had over-run and ended up awkwardly stretching out an arm to stop the ball, which cheekily evaded him and breached the boundary. Root let out an anguished yell from his mark which Hales must have heard.
The blunder II
Kyle Abbott was stationed at short fine leg to stop sneaky singles and did not seem to be expecting a chance to come his way. At least not immediately. Hales picked up the first ball he faced, delivered by Dale Steyn, off his hips and flicked it behind square where Abbott was caught unawares. Instinctively, Abbott had his hands up and they found the ball but before he could wrap his fingers around it, it burst out of his hands. Hales had not scored a run before that but this blunder did not cost too much. Abbott had Hales trapped lbw by the time he got to 17.
The improvisation
South Africa resorted to death bowling tactics in the Powerplay and Abbott was making things particularly uncomfortable for the England batsmen every time he landed his yorker. It's a tough delivery to get right every time and when Abbott missed, Jason Roy had an answer. The England opener got into position and ramped a full toss over de Kock and fine leg for six. He seemed to get nothing more than the toe-end of the bat onto the ball but with enough force to send into the Wankhede stands.
The crowd catch
Both sides had moments where pressure got the better of their catching and they may want to have a word with the security guard who took a cool one-handed catch even as the ball seemed to go over him. Root lofted Abbott over long-off. The ball went high and long but the security guard was up for it. He stuck out his right hand while he stood up and collected the ball cleanly before casually tossing it back on the field. That's how it's done, gents.