Champions Trophy 2025 – South Africa decimate England to march into semi-finals

South Africa 181 for 3 (Van der Dussen 72, Klaasen 64, Archer 2-55) beat England 179 (Root 37, Archer 25, Mulder 3-25, Jansen 3-39) by seven wickets

After selecting to bat first on the most run-laden venue of the occasion, England performed like a facet who would relatively not. They have been bowled out for the bottom complete of this Champions Trophy and gifted South Africa wickets in a show of carefree and typically reckless strokeplay. South Africa have been hit by each sickness and injury-enforced absences and weren’t all the time at their greatest, however caught notably properly within the discipline, paced their chase completely and have loads of positives to take into the knockouts.

Ben Duckett picked up from the place Salt left off and scored two boundaries in three balls off Lungi Ngidi however Jamie Smith repeated Salt’s mistake and tamely pulled Jansen to Markam at mid-on. Duckett settled as he was fed balls on the pads however when he tried to clip Jansen high-quality he bought a vanguard again to South Africa’s destroyer-in-chief. England have been 37 for 3 within the seventh over.

That would have grow to be 38 for 4 when Joe Root reduce Rabada to backward level and although Mulder bought each arms to it, he couldn’t maintain on. Root went on to nail the drive and the pull and shaped a 62-run stand with a confident-looking Harry Brook and England have been constructing solidly. However they might not hold Jansen out of the sport. When Brook belted Maharaj over midwicket, Jansen ran to his proper from long-on, dived to his proper and slid on his knees to take a wonder-catch. 4 balls later, Root was bowled when he missed a leg-side flick off Mulder and the ball hit his again pad on its means onto the stumps.

At that stage Buttler, in his final innings as England captain, had solely confronted a ball and had an enormous job on his arms. He obtained little assist from Liam Livingstone who charged down the monitor to fulfill a Maharaj ball however South Africa’s left-arm spinner noticed him coming, tossed it up and had him stumped. Livingstone has solely made greater than 20 runs as soon as in his final seven innings.

By then, England’s effort seemed principally a case of marking time whereas South Africa stayed targeted on looking for wickets. Rabada was introduced again on the midway stage, beat Jamie Overton first up, then stored him in verify by forcing a defensive shot after which had him caught at mid-on as Overton tried to assault. He seemed to whip Rabada over the leg facet however chipped the ball in direction of mid-on the place Ngidi ran again arduous and took a one-handed stunner as he hit the bottom.

South Africa continued to catch properly: Jansen took a low catch at midwicket to see the tip of Jofra Archer and Maharaj made a tumbling seize at mid-off to finish Buttler’s innings on 21 and provides Ngidi his one centesimal ODI wicket. England have been bowled out within the thirty ninth over, and took South Africa’s considerations a few gradual over price with them.

At that stage, South Africa’s semi-final qualification was assured as a result of even when they misplaced the match, their internet run-rate couldn’t dip under Afghanistan’s. That took strain off the chase however not essentially off South Africa’s batters, who all needed runs forward of an necessary week. Tristan Stubbs, taking part in his ninth ODI and first in an ICC occasion, did not get any as he tried to play an Archer ball late however deflected it onto his stumps.

Although his first over lasted 10 balls as he struggled to search out his line, Archer shortly improved and delivered the remainder of his opening spell with good tempo and higher accuracy. He was rewarded with a second wicket, too, when Ryan Rickelton, who seemed assured in his 25-ball 27, was bowled by a supply that nipped again into him and smashed into center stump.

From there, it was all South Africa. Whereas van der Dussen appeared at occasions annoyed by his slower scoring price than Klaasen’s, the pair complemented one another properly. Van der Dussen scored largely via the leg facet whereas six of Klaasen’s 11 fours got here via the covers. Klaasen reached his fifty with a type of pictures off the forty first ball he confronted. It was his fifth successive half-century within the format, which is the joint-most for South Africa. Van der Dussen’s got here off 72 balls as he rocked again to ship Adil Rashid via sq. leg and convey up a second fifty within the competitors. Klaasen departed when he tried to smash Rashid over high-quality leg however outside-edged to brief third. David Miller hit the profitable runs off the second ball he confronted when he smoked Livingstone over the sight-screen for six.

That is the third successive event for which South Africa have certified for the knockouts after the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. Their semi-final opposition and venue will solely be confirmed after the match between India and New Zealand on Sunday. They are going to play the loser of that match both in Dubai on Tuesday (if it is India) or Lahore on Wednesday (if it is New Zealand).