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 slightly not. They have been bowled out for the bottom whole of this Champions Trophy and gifted South Africa wickets in a show of carefree and generally 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 effectively within the area, 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 wonderful he acquired a forefront again to South Africa’s destroyer-in-chief. England have been 37 for 3 within the seventh over.
That would have change into 38 for 4 when Joe Root minimize Rabada to backward level and although Mulder acquired each fingers to it, he couldn’t maintain on. Root went on to nail the drive and the pull and fashioned 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 approach 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 fingers. He obtained little assist from Liam Livingstone who charged down the monitor to satisfy 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 appeared principally a case of marking time whereas South Africa stayed centered on trying to find wickets. Rabada was introduced again on the midway stage, beat Jamie Overton first up, then stored him in examine by forcing a defensive shot after which had him caught at mid-on as Overton tried to assault. He appeared to whip Rabada over the leg facet however chipped the ball in direction of mid-on the place Ngidi ran again laborious and took a one-handed stunner as he hit the bottom.
South Africa continued to catch effectively: Jansen took a low catch at midwicket to see the top of Jofra Archer and Maharaj made a tumbling seize at mid-off to finish Buttler’s innings on 21 and provides Ngidi his a hundredth 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 web run-rate couldn’t dip beneath 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, enjoying 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 rapidly 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 appeared 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 instances pissed off by his slower scoring price than Klaasen’s, the pair complemented one another effectively. Van der Dussen scored largely by way of the leg facet whereas six of Klaasen’s 11 fours got here by way of 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 by way of sq. leg and convey up a second fifty within the competitors. Klaasen departed when he tried to smash Rashid over wonderful leg however outside-edged to quick third. David Miller hit the successful 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 may play the loser of that match both in Dubai on Tuesday (if it is India) or Lahore on Wednesday (if it is New Zealand).
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and girls’s cricket
