Heinrich Klaasen and Rassie van der Dussen scored half-centuries as South Africa eased to a comfortable seven-wicket win over ailing England in Karachi on Saturday to book a semi-final place at the Champions Trophy.
South Africa bowled England out for 179 in 38.2 overs after the latter had chosen to bat, before reaching their target with a huge 125 balls to spare following a 127-run third-wicket stand between Klaasen (64) and Van der Dussen (72 not out).
They top Group B and join Australia, India and New Zealand in the semi-finals, with the fixture line-up to be confirmed when the latter two meet in Dubai on Sunday.
The match was the last in charge for England captain Jos Buttler, who is to step down from his role after the side lost all three pool fixtures in the tournament.
England were already out of the tournament going into the game and, after winning the toss, their innings never got going as they played some poor shots on a good batting wicket that had just a hint of variable bounce.
South Africa did well to expose England’s desire to chase the run-rate with injudicious shots but also bowled both sides of the wicket and will need to tighten up their lines, whoever they face in the semi-finals.
Joe Root top-scored for England with a well-constructed 37 before he was bowled by seamer Wiaan Mulder (3-25), while Buttler managed 21 in his final game as skipper.
There was little else to enthuse over for the side, with Ben Duckett (24) and Jofra Archer (25) also managing starts.
South Africa lost Tristan Stubbs (0) early in their chase, as he played on to his wicket from a delivery by Archer (2-55).
But once Klaasen and Van der Dussen got together they constructed a fine partnership that showed the England batters how to play on the wicket.
Van der Dussens unbeaten 72 came from 87 balls and included three sixes as he anchored the innings along with the more explosive Klaasen.
South Africa will sweat over the fitness of batter Aiden Markram, who left the field with a hamstring injury, while regular captain Temba Bavuma and opening batter Tony de Zorzi missed the game through illness.
Yesterday, Australia qualified for the Champions Trophy semi-finals after their Group B match against Afghanistan ended without a result due to persistent rain in Lahore.
While responding to a question by Dawn.com at the pre-match press conference yesterday, South Africa men’s ODI coach Rob Walter said, “Yeah, I think any experience in the subcontinent is valuable.
“Certainly, the tri-series was valuable for us, albeit that there was a large portion of the squad that wasn’t there, but they have been to Pakistan before. But all in all, it was a great exercise.
“[We] would have loved to have had one more game in that final, just to sort of tick it all off. But yeah, we’re pretty happy. We started the competition well on the back of some individually good performances in the tri-series. But as we’ve learned with cricket, conditions change all the time.
“There’s no one way, and there’s no one condition. It’s really about being adaptable.”
He was responding to a query regarding South Africa’s familiarity with the conditions in Karachi being a factor in the Champions Trophy, where they have a decent chance of winning their first ICC ODI trophy in nearly three decades.
In the lead up to the tournament, South Africa played a tri-series against New Zealand and hosts Pakistan, playing a match in Karachi and Lahore.
South Africa last won an ICC ODI tournament when they won the 1998 ICC Knock Out Trophy, where they beat West Indies in the final by 4 wickets.
