Moeen Ali made an excellent return to T20I cricket for England with the ball but his side were edged out by one run in the first meeting with South Africa at East London this evening.
The Worcestershire all-rounder was entrusted with the new ball in his first T20I for 16 months and bowled throughout the initial powerplay.
The 32-year-old conceded just one boundary, picked up the wicket of Quinton de Kock and ended with figures of 4-0-22-1.
Moeen conceded just four singles in his first over and seven runs in his next over before making the breakthrough.
De Kock had made a quickfire 31 when he went for a big hit and holed out to Joe Denly running in from long on with 48 on the board.
Moeen was taken out of the attack at the end of the powerplay but returned to complete his spell in the 13th over which yielded only five runs.
But before that he was involved in the thick of the action again when Temba Bavuma (43) swept Ben Stokes into his hands at square leg.
South Africa lost four wickets during the final eight balls of their innings after being put in and closed on 177-8.
Jason Roy (70) and Eoin Morgan (52) kept England in contention when they replied.
But they failed to score the seven runs required from the final over, losing three wickets including Moeen who was bowled by Lungi Ngidi for five, and closed on 176-9.
