Rain ruled in Johannesburg as the opening game of the one-day series between South Africa and England at The Wanderers was washed out.

Not a ball was bowled in the day-night contest with umpires Marais Erasmus and Rod Tucker calling off proceedings at 5pm local time.

Heavy rain had hit the area in the build-up to the game and further downpours continued during Friday, leaving standing water on parts of the outfield.

Having drawn the Twenty20 series 1-1, Proteas coach Mickey Arthur admitted the hosts were left kicking their heels at the bad weather.

Frustrating

"It is very frustrating. We were looking forward to getting stuck into the series," he said.

"We felt we picked up good momentum in the Standard Bank Pro20 Series, and our players are raring to go."

The abandonment means Paul Collingwood will have to wait to overtake Alec Stewart and become England's most-capped ODI player.

The Durham all-rounder will hope the weather allows him to make a record 171st appearance on Sunday, in the second one-dayer at Centurion.

The tourists will still be without injured duo Stuart Broad (shoulder) and Graeme Swann (side) at the weekend.

The two teams then move on to Cape Town for a day-night affair on November 27 before playing in Port Elizabeth on November 29. The five-match series concludes in Durban on December 4.

SA Vs England - 2nd T20

2nd Twenty20 Match

Centurion Park

South Africa 241-6 Innings Complete (L L Bosman 94, G C Smith 88) v England 157-8 Innings Complete (I J L Trott 51)

South Africa beat England by 84 runs

South Africa hit back in style in the second Twenty20 international as they blasted England's bowlers all over Centurion Park in an 84-run victory.

Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman did all the damage early on as they shared a record-breaking 170-run opening partnership.

Smith clobbered eight fours and six sixes as he smashed 88 runs from just 44 balls while Bosman somehow did even better, with his 94 coming from just 45 deliveries and including nine sixes along with five boundaries.

South Africa's stunning innings eventually ended on 241-6 and that gave stand-in skipper Alastair Cook and his men an almost-impossible task of chasing 242 to win and claim the Twenty20 series.

Jonathan Trott did get a half-century while Kevin Pietersen made a decent 29 on his return from injury, but the run rate soon got way out of hand and England eventually closed on 157-8.

Pulsating start

After their pulsating start, Proteas skipper Smith eventually holed out in the deep off Joe Denly's first ball of the day, although by then the damage had already been done to England.

Bosman was largely playing second fiddle early on but he continued where his skipper left off before being caught in the deep with the score on 192-2.

AB de Villiers added 24 and Albie Morkel 14 as England's bowlers took a real hammering but for the exception of James Anderson, who took 1-28 from his four overs.

Sajid Mahmood conceded 61 from his four while Tim Bresnan went for 48 and Adil Rashid was thumped for 25 from his one-and-only over of leg spin.

South Africa's bowlers backed up their batsmen's efforts and England never looked like reaching such a lofty target, with Denly out early for a run-a-ball 14.

Resistance

Cook followed for 26 but Trott and Pietersen offered some resistance as the South African-born duo combined for 52 before the former was caught out a run after reaching his own half-century.

Pietersen missed a switch-hit and was bowled for 29, but he looked good on his return to action having been pushed back into the team ahead of schedule following an injury to Paul Collingwood.

Eoin Morgan could not rescue England again as he was one of two wickets for Dale Steyn, and the tourists went down to their biggest Twenty20 loss.

Victory for the Proteas squares the 20-over series in style at the start of a long duel between the two nations, with the one-dayers next up on the schedule.