Imran Tahir steers South Africa to victory over New Zealand, Sri Lanka secure thrilling win against Australia

Toby Roland-Jones also transformed the England Lions' fortunes against Sri Lanka A

Imran Tahir celebrates after securing victory for his side (Getty)

South Africa's veteran leg-spinner Imran Tahir finished with his maiden Twenty20 International five-wicket haul as he and Chris Morris each took two wickets in two balls to inflict a 78-run defeat on New Zealand in the one-off match in Auckland.

Trent Boult stood out among the home bowlers, with the remarkably economical figures of 4-0-8-2 - including the wicket of dangerous opener Quinton de Kock for a duck, caught in the leg-side deep - but Hashim Amla (62) top-scored to help set a competitive 185 for six after Kane Williamson unsurprisingly chose to bowl first following heavy rain at Eden Park.

Amla shared a second-wicket stand of 87 with captain Faf du Plessis, hitting nine fours and a six off 43 balls - and then the South Africa bowlers took over.

Faf du Plessis in action for South Africa (Getty)

Morris did the early damage, in his second over, debutant Glenn Phillips caught-behind and Colin Munro bowled by some full-length swing first ball - before Tahir (five for 24) got to work with successive googlies to have Tom Bruce bowled on the charge and Luke Ronchi edging to the wicketkeeper for a golden duck.

Tahir wrapped up the match with two more late victims in three balls - while seamer Andile Phehlukwayo (three for 19) also took his first Twenty20 International wickets as New Zealand were all out for 107 in 14.5 overs.

Sri Lanka secure thrilling five-wicket victory against Australia

Chamara Kapugedera smashed a boundary off the last ball to secure a thrilling five-wicket victory for Sri Lanka against Australia in the first Twenty20 Internationals on Friday.

Needing one run off the last ball, Kapugedera drove the fuller delivery from Andrew Tye through cover to seal the match and put his team 1-0 up in the three-match contest.

With several of their top players in India for a test series, Australia fielded a second-string team with Michael Klinger, Billy Stanlake and Ashton Turner making their debut in Twenty20 Internationals.

Put into bat, the hosts could not make the most of a strong start and posted a modest 168-6 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Chamara Kapugedera celebrates with Seekkuge Prasanna after hitting the winning runs (Getty)

Skipper Aaron Finch (43) went on to complete his 1000 runs in Twenty20 Internationals while Klinger (38) and Travis Head (31) were the other notable contributors with the bat.

Paceman Lasith Malinga, playing his first international match in 12 months, was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, claiming two wickets in two balls while also taking a couple of catches on his return.

Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga fell for a duck but Dilshan Munaweera (44) and Niroshan Dickewalla (30) steadied the innings before Asela Gunaratne (52) hit his maiden fifty to take the tourists close to win.

With Sri Lanka seemingly cruising to victory needing 18 runs off the last three overs, Turner injected fresh excitement into the contest claiming two wickets in the 18th over.

James Faulkner conceded only six runs in his tidy final over that left Sri Lanka needing six off the last over from Tye who could only watch on agony as Kapugedera's shot raced to boundary.

The teams now move to South Geelong, Victoria for the second Twenty20 match on Friday.

Jack Leach omitted from Lions Line-Up as Toby Roland Jones thrives against Sri Lanka A

Jack Leach's surprise omission from England Lions' team for the first of their two unofficial Tests against Sri Lanka A was the most eye-catching factor on day one in Kandy - where on the pitch, Toby Roland-Jones transformed the tourists' fortunes with bat and ball.

Left-arm spinner Leach is still struggling to rediscover his best form, having successfully corrected his action through the first half of the winter following tests which unexpectedly identified an illegal straightening beyond the permitted 15 degrees.

Without him, it fell to big-hitting Roland-Jones to engineer the Lions' fightback in the last session of a hard-fought first day of four.

Number nine Roland-Jones hit 82 from 98 balls, including three sixes and eight fours, as the Lions recovered from 210 for eight to 316 all out - thanks especially to his last-wicket stand of 68 with Tom Helm.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Roland-Jones then took two wickets in his first over - his Middlesex team-mate Helm and Surrey's Tom Curran had to settle for just one each in theirs - as the hosts faltered to 29 for four at the close.

In-form Tom Westley top-scored for the Lions with 97, sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 128 with Liam Livingstone (59).

The Lions had stuttered to 14 for two, after winning the toss, as Test opener Haseeb Hameed and Nick Gubbins both went cheaply.

Westley and Livingstone's departures began a middle-order collapse of five for 21 as left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara (four for 97) did most damage.

But Roland-Jones came to the rescue alongside two of his Lord's chums, first Ollie Rayner and then Helm.

PA and Reuters