Joe Denly's patchy form on England's tour of South Africa continued as England lost by four wickets against South Africa A in their only Twenty20 warm-up match before Friday's first international.

The opener, pictured, took nine balls to make only seven as England were dismissed for just 89 in 17.4 overs in Bloemfontein.

Denly - who scored 82 in the victory over Warriors on Sunday after being dismissed for three in the first tour game - struck the third ball through the covers for four but the next two overs went by without a boundary and after Alastair Cook got off the mark with a streaky edge to third man, Denly was caught by a diving Heino Kuhn behind the stumps.

Skipper Paul Collingwood said: "Obviously it was disappointing with the bat but I thought we showed a lot of fight with the ball and did well to get them six down but we're not going to win many games losing seven for 20."

With the hosts needing 29 from 37 balls, Collingwood turned to the occasional spin of Denly, who was smashed for two sixes in three balls over long-on by Vaughn van Jaarsveld to reduce the requirement to four from 24 balls.