South Africa romps into Champions Trophy semi finals with seven-wicket win over England

Rassie van der Dussen scored 72 not out off 87 balls to lead South Africa into the semi finals of the Champions Trophy, beating England by seven wickets.

The loss was England's third-straight of the tournament as they finish bottom of Group B without a single point.

Van der Dussen’s half-century highlighted South Africa’s clinical performance as it topped the group.

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The Proteas finished with 3-181 in 29.1 overs in reply to England’s hapless effort of 179 all out (38.2 overs) having won the toss and batted.

Marco Jansen picked 3-39 in seven overs, while Wiaan Mulder took 3-25 in 7.2 overs as England’s batting looked disinterested.

England had previously lost to Australia and Afghanistan and thus finished winless after three games, marking a dismal end to Jos Buttler’s run as skipper.

Buttler announced on Friday that he would step down after England’s surprising exit as well as its past failures in the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

Australia is the second team to qualify from Group B and will face either India and New Zealand after those two Group A teams battle for top spot in Dubai on Sunday (AEDT).

South Africa’s victory eliminated Afghanistan, which finished third in Group B.

England’s innings suffered early blows against Jansen. Phil Salt was out caught for eight and then Jamie Smith was caught for a three-ball duck.

They slumped to 3-37 when Ben Duckett returned a catch to Jansen for 24 off 21 balls.

“These were good conditions from a batting point of view, and the boys worked very hard," said Jansen, who was named player of the match. “I used my options well and hit my lengths.”

Joe Root top-scored with 37 off 44 balls and made an effort to stabilize the innings. He added 62 off 61 balls with Harry Brook (19).

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj (2-35) got the breakthrough with Jansen taking a nice catch at midwicket to dismiss Brook. Thereafter, England collapsed again.

Mulder bowled Root in the 18th over, and while Buttler held one end with 21 off 43 balls, regular wickets meant that the English innings never took flight. Jofra Archer scored 25 off 31 balls with four fours.

England lost its last seven wickets for 80 runs, finishing with a below par score.

“It was a really disappointing performance and we were short of our mark today,” Buttler said after England’s seventh straight ODI defeat.

“It was a decent surface and Duckett got us into a nice position, but we couldn’t take advantage of that. As a whole group, we are not getting results and that takes away the confidence from us.”

Chasing a paltry total, South Africa’s start wasn’t too good either. Archer bowled makeshift opener Tristan Stubbs for a five-ball duck, and then bowled Ryan Rickelton (27) later on as well.

It was 2-47 when Van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen came together, and they put on 127 runs off 122 balls for the third wicket.

Van der Dussen reached 50 off 72 balls, and his knock for the day included six fours and three sixes overall.

Stand-in skipper Aiden Markram did not bat as he had sustained a hamstring injury while fielding.

Klaasen finished with 64 off 56 balls with 11 fours before he was out caught off Adil Rashid (1-37) near the finish line.