From 157 for three in the 17th over, England were bowled out for 171 with two balls of their scheduled innings unused – after Jos Buttler (54) and Eoin Morgan had set course for far better.

De Villiers (71) then wasted no time putting England’s efforts into brutal context, with South Africa’s fastest-ever Twenty20 50 from 21 balls, as Morgan’s tourists lost a fifth successive international white-ball match in the space of 13 days.

De Villiers’ opening stand of 125 with Hashim Amla (69no) took only 50 balls, before he was caught in the deep off Adil Rashid – allowing South Africa to coast the remainder of the chase and still achieve it with a remarkable 5.2 overs to spare.

It is a godsend, in the circumstances, that England can fly home on Monday without any further battering of confidence before their ICC World Twenty20 campaign next month.

They lost their last seven wickets for 14 runs after Morgan and Buttler’s fourth-wicket stand of 96, as a flurry of mistimed shots and a fair slice of misfortune combined to undermine previous efforts.

Kyle Abbott (three for 26) was the principal beneficiary, and found himself on a hat-trick as England flailed away in vain.