England go back home winless with Jos Buttler stepping down as Captain in an appaling display in their final league stage game against South Africa, and being bowled out for the lowest score of 179 in the champions trophy in Karachi.
The match got underway at 2.30 pm this afternoon and was scheduled to come to an end around 10.30 pm local time, but the game was done and dusted by 8.15 local time.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, England batters made a mockery in their batting display.
England should have played fearless cricket knowing that their final league game, South Africa, was only of academic interest from an English perspective.
Temba Bavuma and Charlie de Zorzi were benched due to illness. However, Henrich Klassan was in the park after his injury, whilst Treston Stubbs also got the nod.
England was minus Mark Wood due to his ever recurring knee injury , Saqib Mahamood was included in the English playing eleven.
The two England openers, namely Phil Salt and Jammi Smith, were dismissed in a similar fashion, trying to fetch a short delivery from the tall left arm seamer Marco Jansen from outside the off stump only to be caught at mid wicket with England down with 2 scalps for 20 runs on placid batting conditions.
Ben Ducket became the third victim of Marco Jansen for 24, caught by the bowler himself off a leading edge off his bat, stuck with limited foot movement lunging at a back of a length delivery.
The scalp of Ben Ducket proved a strong point that English batters have limited skill levels against quality left arm seam.
Harry Brook with Joe Root tried to restore the English innings with a partnership of 62 runs for the 4th , but Keshav Mahraj spoilt the party when he had Harry Brook caught brilliantly by Marco Jansen for 19 and the English innings was in tatters on 99 runs for 4 wickets.
Joe Root was bowled by Wiaan Mulder for 37 , hence, an indication that England was throwing in the towel looked obvious.
Jos Buttler 21 , Jofry Archer 25 , Livingston 9 were blown away by the South African bowlers, and
England was bowled out for an appaling 178 runs in 38.2 overs the lowest team total of the Champions trophy in the league stage by England.
Keshav Mahraj 3 for 35 , Marco Jansen 3 for 39 , Wiaan Mulder 3 for 25 proved a far beyond doubt it was a South African well diciplined bowling effort.
179 is no doubt a target that South Africa was predictable to reach with ease.
The South Africans got to the target of 179 with almost 23 overs to spare. Rassi Van Dar Dussen unbeaten on 72 , with Henrich Klassan smashing the English bowlers for 64 stroke filled runs batting in this competition for the first time to secure a one-sided victory for South Africa tagged as a comprehensive win by 7 wickets.
It is an emotional departure for this talented England outfit from the Champions trophy it is imperative that England address the self-belief area first , and the rest the experts feel will fall into place.
