ICC World Twenty20 warm-up, Bridgetown, Barbados:
England 127-5 (19.3 ovs) beat S Africa 125-5 (20 ovs) by five wickets
Match scorecard
Morgan scored half the required runs from number five
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A brilliant innings from Eoin Morgan gave England a victory over South Africa in their final warm-up game before the ICC World Twenty20.
After an easy win against Bangladesh, England found the Proteas predictably more formidable in Barbados.
And after having their opponents 66-5 from 14.1 overs, Paul Collingwood's men were chasing 126 for victory after late blows from JP Duminy and Albie Morkel.
But despite stumbling to 9-3, England got home thanks to Morgan's 63.
The left-hander, batting at number five, came to the crease with the team in trouble.
Michael Lumb and Kevin Pietersen had fallen in the first over to Rory Kleinveldt before Craig Kieswetter departed to Morne Morkel's second ball.
606: DEBATE
yorker_129-7
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Collingwood (23) dropped anchor as Morgan played the big shots in the early stages of an excellent 71-run partnership.
And though neither could stay until the end, Luke Wright and Tim Bresnan then got in some handy batting practice ahead of England's first game of the tournament on Monday against hosts West Indies.
South Africa's batsmen were put on the back foot early on by some good England bowling - Graeme Smith needing 13 balls to score his first run as Ryan Sidebottom started the match with a maiden, having been recalled for the rested James Anderson.
Wickets were soon falling too, Loots Bosman mis-pulling Stuart Broad to mid-wicket and Herschelle Gibbs beaten by some smart recovery work in the covers from Collingwood to be run out for one as he tried to return for a second.
It was a disappointing first warm-up outing for Kevin Pietersen
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Michael Yardy duly nipped out two more, Smith stumped after getting nowhere near the pitch on the charge and AB de Villiers bowled trying a big drive.
Mark Boucher was undone by exaggerated turn from Graeme Swann, and it was only thanks to the efforts of Duminy (30 not out from 21 balls) and Morkel (32 not out off 21) that the game became competitive.
The negative factor for England was clearly the top-order batting, Lumb having registered a second failure and Pietersen out first ball after replacing Ravi Bopara, having missed the Bangladesh game to be with his pregnant wife.
Bopara, who opened with some success in this format last summer and top-scored against Bangladesh, may yet be asked to perform the same role again.
In Thursday's other warm-ups, holders Pakistan were beaten by Zimbabwe after spinner Prosper Utseya took 4-15 in a 12-run victory in St Lucia, while Australia dished out a 101-run thrashing to the Windward Islands.
The tournament begins in Guyana on Friday with Sri Lanka facing New Zealand before West Indies entertain Ireland.
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