JAMES Vince’s England Lions lost their unbeaten record in the last game of their South African tour - but still return home with a 3-1 one-day series victory under his captaincy.

Hampshire star Vince made a 26-ball 23 (four fours) but the Lions were bowled out for 209 in reply to their hosts’ 287-6 to lose by 78 runs in Benoni.

Vince won the toss and chose to bowl first then bat later under floodlights, which are among the oldest in world cricket and were not bright enough for the Lions to launch their reply on schedule at 6:45pm (play resumed after a 35-minute delay when an electrician had restored the lights to full power).

An opening stand of 149 inside 29 overs between Reeza Hendricks (107) and Dean Elgar (66) laid an excellent platform for the home side with Jack Brooks (3-55) the pick of the tourists’ attack.

The Lions made a slow start to both innings and lost Sam Billings and Jason Roy in the first four overs of their reply. They slipped to 92-4 when Vince and Ben Stokes both fell to teenage quick Kagiso Rabada, (4-51).

And after a fifth-wicket stand of 78 between Jonny Bairstow (64) and Samit Patel (55), the Lions lost their last five wickets for 23 runs.

Vince finished what has been a breakthrough tour for the 23 year-old with an aggregate of 417 runs at 69.5.

He excelled during the two drawn four-day matches, with 261 runs at 130.5, including a series-saving 152 not out, before making 156 runs at 39 as captain in the one-day series.