South Africa cantered to a comfortable seven-wicket win over England in the final group match of their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign.
Half-centuries from Heinrich Klaasen and Rassie van der Dussen got them over the line as they marked their entry to the tournament’s semi-finals.
Jofra Archer took the wickets of both Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs, and Klaasen fell late on, caught by Saqib Mahmood off the bowling of Adil Rashid, with just six more runs required.
David Miller did that in one hit, striking a maximum from the second ball he faced to complete the job.
In the first innings, England were bowled out for 179 within 39 overs, the lowest total in the tournament this year – and it sealed South Africa’s path into the semi-finals as England would not have been able to win by a big enough margin to put Afghanistan in second spot via their net run rate.
They had fallen to 37/3 after Phil Salt, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett were all out within the first seven overs.
That was followed by a middle-order collapse. Harry Brook was out for just 19, followed by Joe Root for 37, deceived by a brilliant ball from Wiann Mulder. The pair of them had mustered a partnership of 62, the only notable one of the innings.
Liam Livingstone made only 9, out of his ground and stumped by Klaasen, and Jamie Overton reached 11 before being caught superbly by Lungi Ngidi off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada.
The tail did their best, with Archer joining outgoing captain Jos Buttler at the crease and making 25 off 31 balls.
Then Buttler departed in the 36th over for a sluggish 21 off 43 deliveries, leaving Rashid and Mahmood with the task of seeing out the innings.
And Rashid was the last man to fall, caught behind off the bowling of Mulder.
Any result apart from a heavy loss will guarantee South Africa – who now occupy the second place in Group B – a spot in the semi-final, after Australia’s rain-hit fixture against Afghanistan paved their way into the last four of the Champions Trophy 2025.
Aiden Markram was leading the team instead of Temba Bavuma, who misses out due to an illness, but he departed the field in the middle of the England innings due to discomfort in his hamstring. Klaasen has assumed the captaincy.
England’s Champions Trophy hopes came to a halt after Afghanistan inflicted defeat upon them in a nail-biter of a game in Lahore, making it two losses out of two in the campaign.
This will be Jos Buttler’s final time as skipper in the 50-over format, who announced his decision to step down from captaincy on the eve of the fixture.
His side are without the injured Mark Wood, replaced by Saqib Mahmood.
Teams:
England: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (c), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood.
More on England’s squad
South Africa: Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram (c), Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.