Proteas semifinal bound after smashing hapless England

Having already had their semifinal place in the Champions Trophy confirmed after bowling England out for 179, the Proteas ensured they finished in top spot in group B with a comfortable seven-wicket victory in Karachi on Saturday. 

The opponents in that semifinal will only be determined on Sunday after New Zealand face India in Dubai. Both the South African and Australians squads will travel to Dubai to allow the team that will face India — who because of political tensions with Pakistan were allowed to play all their matches at the Dubai International Stadium — sufficient time to prepare. 

Depending on the outcome, the team that doesn’t face India will then head back to Pakistan to play in the second semifinal in Lahore on Wednesday. 

Given all the travel that potentially awaits, the Proteas would have been grateful that they didn’t have too much stress on Saturday. They bowled England out in 39 overs, although the performance with the ball left a lot to be desired. 

With the bat they were much more proficient, thanks to a 130-run partnership for the third wicket between Rassie van der Dussen, who finished on 72 not out, and Heinrich Klaasen, playing in his first match in the competition, who scored 64. 

Klaasen, who ended the match as captain after stand-in skipper Aiden Markram was forced off during SA’s stint in the field with a right hamstring strain, struck several sumptuous strokes among his 11 fours, showing that the elbow ailment that forced him to miss the first match was no longer an issue. 

Earlier, South Africa delivered a lousy performance with the ball that fortunately for them was good enough against a catastrophic batting display by a hapless England. 

The Proteas’ seamers were downright awful, misdirecting deliveries, overpitching and not providing Markram with much to work with. 

Besides the bad bowling, there were a couple of moments of sloppiness in the field. Lungi Ngidi, dreadful in his first spell, lamented a misfield, but after a good chase by Tristan Stubbs was followed by an even better throw to the bowler's end, Ngidi’s absence at the stumps cost them Ben Duckett’s wicket. 

A few balls later, Wiaan Mulder dropped Joe Root in the gully when he had three. Although the ball came to him quickly, Mulder should still have held the chance.

In addition to all of that, SA’s discipline was lacking too. They served up 12 wides, while Kagiso Rabada bowled his usual no-ball.

But this is an England team devoid of confidence. They produced a horrible innings, with several batters handing their wickets on a plate to the South Africans. Phil Salt and Jamie Smith both mistimed pulls and were caught on the leg-side off Marco Jansen.

Duckett got in a tangle against the big-left-arm seamer and offered an easy catch, which Jansen held off his own bowling.

Joe Root top-scored with 37 and shared a 62-run partnership with the hard-hitting Harry Brook, who made 19 — but once that pair was dismissed, within five balls of each other, the rest of the England batting folded.

Root again delivered some crisp strokeplay but played all around a straight ball from Mulder and was bowled.

Four balls earlier, Brook who is one of the leading candidates to take over the one-day team’s captaincy from Jos Buttler, who stood down from the role on Friday, skied Keshav Maharaj towards midwicket, where Jansen, after sprinting 28 metres (according to TV analysis) to his right, did a beautiful knee slide to complete a stunning catch. 

Maharaj was the best of SA’s bowlers, delivering his 10 overs in a single spell, finishing with 2/35, with his second wicket, resulting from a smartly flighted delivery that was too good for Liam Livingstone, who was stumped. 

Ngidi atoned for his lacklustre efforts at the start with an amazing catch running backwards to dismiss Jamie Overton — and then became the 13th South African to take 100 ODI wickets when he dismissed the embattled Buttler.

Jansen, named player of the match, and Mulder each claimed three wickets.

SA were missing Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi because of illness. There has been a bug going around in the SA team in the last few days. Last week Rabada had the sniffles too, with blame attached to the rainy weather and moving between air-conditioning indoors to humid conditions outside. 

Markram confirmed afterwards that his hamstring should be fine in time for the semifinal.