Blog - South Africa romp to seven-wicket win to keep England winless

As straightforward a win you are ever likely to see. South Africa have romped into the semi-finals as group winners, chasing down a target of 180 just three down, with 20.5 overs to spare. Bear in mind, they needed just 38.2 overs to bowl England out for 179.

David Miller finishes matters with a straight, clean six over Liam Livingstone's head, with Rassie van der Dussen watching on at the other end with an unbeaten 72 under his arm. His stand of 127 in cahoots with Heinrich Klaasen did the brunt of the work, the latter caught at short third off Adil Rashid for 63 looking to do what Miller achieved and close out the chase in emphatic fashion.

For England, they sign off their Champions Trophy campaign with another defeat, three from three, finishing bottom of the group. They were up against it from the start, three down inside the opening seven overs of their innings after Marco Jansen snuffed out the top order, before Wiaan Mulder's three and a couple from Keshav Maharaj straggled what remained of a bedraggled batting card.

Jansen is the player of the match with 3 for 39: "It's a good feeling. The boys worked really hard. It's not the easiest conditions from a bowling point of view. There was no swing, which I'm not that happy about! But I'm happy with my performance. For me, I was just want to go to sleep now. But we'll see tomorrow. We'll just rest up and enjoy this win."

South Africa and Australia will now have to wait until tomorrow's match between India and New Zealand to see who and where they will be playing in the semi-finals. Both teams will head to the UAE overnight just in case...

A six blazed down the ground as Adil Rashid flights one up, then a short ball slapped through square leg with ease takes Rassie van der Dussen to his 22nd fifty plus score in ODIs. It's also his fifth against England.

The 52 against Afghanistan in the Group B opener ended a 10-innings streak without a fifty, and another so soon underlines that he is back in the groove. Not long left now...

Heinrich Klaasen clicks through the gears like a prime Ferrari, moving from 34 to 50 with four crisp boundaries in the space of eight deliveries. That's a fifth ODI half-century in a row, too.

This is his first innings of the tournament, having missed the opener against Afghanistan before the washout against Australia. Regardless of who they face in the semi-finals, or where it is staged, he looks in dangerous nick.

Nine off Jamie Overton's second over, courtesy of two fours from the bat of Heinrich Klaasen. The first threaded wristily through a staggered cover region. The second easily flicked around the corner down to the fine leg boundary. Overton's third over then goes for eight, as Klaasen crunches a high-class drive through the off side.

We're all familiar with the big man's striking, but he's showcasing his touch here. You could argue Buttler's men have never recovered from his assault on them during the 2023 ODI World Cup, which consigned England to their biggest ODI loss. Defeat did not knock England out of the tournament, but they were all but down and out after that shellacking.

With a required run rate of around 2.5 required for the remainder of this innings, the jeopardy has all but gone from the occasion, particularly with South Africa already through to the semi-finals after dismissing England for 179. But Klaasen could use this opportunity to clean a minor blemish in his ODI record.

The 33-year-old averages just 16.12 in 50-over chases in Asia (a sample size of eight matches, across Sri Lanka and India). This first knock in Pakistan could provide a nice boost to that particular stat. He can also better his previous high score of 36 when batting second in this part of the world.

Rassie van der Dussen loves playing against England. He came into this match averaging 51.88 against them in 11 ODIs, with two of his six centuries against Jos Buttler's charges, at Chester-le-Street and Bloemfontein, with a couple of fifties in there for good measure.

England are usually very, how you say, "talkative" when van der Dussen comes to the crease, who is usually more than happy to return serve. It's probably reflective of England's situation at the moment that they don't seem to have engaged with the No.3 batter.

He came to the middle after Jofra Archer removed Tristan Stubbs, promoted to the top as a makeshift opener in the absence of Tony de Zorzi. Temba Bavuma, also out with illness, batted three against Afghanistan, hence van der Dussen's shift up the order.

He's chilling for the moment, fresh from 52 against Afghanistan in the opening match. Ryan Rickelton, who struck 103 in that match, is doing the bulk of the scoring in the Powerplay.

A thoroughly professional display from South Africa, who have secured their semi-final place by dismissing England for 179 inside 39 overs. The Proteas' net run rate will remain above Afghanistan's -0.990 regardless of what unfolds in the chase as they cannot lose by more than 200 runs. Both teams are currently on three points.

Wiaan Mulder pockets the best figures of 3 for 35, but the real credit belongs to Marco Jansen, whose three up top winded England. At 37 for3, whatever fight they left had disappeared into the ether.

Jos Buttler’s peculiar knock in his last innings as England captain summed up the general malaise around this set-up. It’s hard to pinpoint the worst dismissal, though Livingstone missing a full toss to be stumped as one of two to Keshav Maharaj was probably top of the podium. He was part of a further three-pronged failure in the engine room, joining Harry Brook and Joe Root back in the changing room in the space of 24 deliveries.

South Africa bowled smartly, fielded brilliantly (by and large) and will no doubt go on to knock these runs off with relative ease. Not bad for a side afflicted with illness!

A confusing, anaemic final innings as captain comes to an end. Hard to know what Buttler was trying to achieve as he scrimped his way to 21 from 43 deliveries. At 48.83, it was his fourth lowest ODI strike rate of the 108 times he has made it to double figures.

He fell victim to a well-disguised slower ball from Ngidi, early on a drive, straight to Maharaj at mid off. It was Ngidi's first of the innings, taking him to 100 in the format in his 66th cap. After a brisk start to his ODI career, things have slowed down through injury, characterised by the fact this is only his 12th wicket in his last 10 matches. Nevertheless, that strike rate remains very tidy at 30.5.

Lungi Ngidi has been on and off the field today, but made his presence count at mid on with a spectacular catch to remove Jamie Overton.

The fast bowler is apparently a big NFL fan and his take, running full pelt, tracking the ball over his shoulder before plucking it out of the air one-handed, was a catch Odell Beckham Jr would have been proud to call his own.

It was the second spectacular take of the innings after this effort from Marco Jansen to remove Harry Brook. The tournament has been a logistical nightmare, and we've been short of competitive matches, but the catching has been superb.

BREAKING FROM THE SOUTH AFRICA CAMP: Aiden Markram is experiencing discomfort in his right hamstring. As a precaution, he will not field for the remainder of the innings and will bat only if required. Heinrich Klaasen will captain for the rest of the match.

A double breakthrough for South Africa, just as it looked like England were digging themselves out of a hole. Harry Brook and Joe Root had negotiated the early storm, and had made it to a collective stand of 62 before they were finally parted.

It took an outstanding catch in the deep to get rid of Brook - Jansen again in the action, taking a stonkingly good catch at midwicket - as the 26-year old looked to belt Keshav Maharaj over midwicket. He had been kept in check by spin, but the dismissal continues a trouble theme against spin in white ball cricket...

Root's demise four balls later was the real killer, uncharacteristically off-kilter as he failed to negotiate a wobble seam delivery angled into him by Mulder. An attempt to push into the leg side ricocheted off his pad and onto his stumps.

Both of their dismissals were put in the shade by Liam Livingstone, who charged Maharaj and missed a full toss, brilliantly taken by Klaasen to affect the stumping. The middle order collapse - at the time of writing - reads 3 for 15 in 24 deliveries. Dire.

Drinks being taken here in Karachi, after Joe Root pulls out twice in the previous over, just as Kagiso Rabada gets to the crease. It's difficult to ascertain what the actual issue is, but it does seem genuine because Rabada is not as irked as he could be, suggesting he understands why Root has backtracked from his stance three times in his innings so far. The issue seems to be in the air rather than behind the bowler's arm.

Fans of the travel logistics of this Champions Trophy, this one is for you: The scheduling of the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy in two different countries has meant both teams who qualify from Group B - most likely Australia and South Africa - will travel to the UAE later today.

An ICC official confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the decision has been made to allow the side that plays the semi-final in Dubai on March 4 the maximum time to prepare. It means one team is guaranteed to fly back immediately to play their semi-final in Lahore. Danyal Rasool has more.

A lot he has been made about the lack of variety of England's seam attack, one dimensional in terms of skillsets, particularly with the likes of Reece Topley and Sam Curran deemed surplus to requirements. That South Africa's tall left-armer has been making hay early doors will give those critics plenty to feast on.

Jansen has bagged the three wickets so far, all down to his angle and high release point to some degree. Granted, he was helped with some foolhardy attempts to smoke him down the ground by Salt and Smith.But the leading edge drawn from Ben Duckett, who was seeing it well, bounced and seamed a little more than anticipated, even if the left-hander played it awkwardly.

From three done, Joe Root and Harry Brook, England's most technical proficient batters, have set about a riposte that has taken the score to a respectable 62 for 3. They could have been four down had Wiaan Muller managed to hang onto a full-blooded cut at gully when Root was on three. Root has subsequently clubbed Mulder for six over midwicket in the allrounder's first over...

An eventful first over and a neat microcosm of England's long-standing problems in the 50-over format. Unfiltered attacking verve leading to predictable failure.

No player embodies this more than Phil Salt. A carve over cover was followed by an aerial flick just beyond forward square leg. And yet, with nine runs from the first five legal balls of the match, Salt got greedy, trying to launch a length delivery from outside off over long on, top-edging to midwicket.

It means Salt, in 31 ODI innings, has only lasted more than 30 balls on five occasions. A statistic which sums up his limitations as an established T20 opener trying to make it work in the longer format. It leaves him with a total of 30 runs from 25 deliveries across three innings at this tournament...

And just to really compound England's misery, Jamie Smith, parachuted into No.3 a couple of weeks ago, has come and gone in similar fashion for a three-ball duck. One of England's success stories of the last 12 months finishes his first major tournament with an average of 8.00.