Key events
4th over: South Africa 24-1 (Rickelton 11, van der Dussen 6) Lovely shot from Rickelton as he slaps Mahmood off the back foot through the covers for four. He’s some player this lefty. A score of 259 in his last Test and a ton in his last ODI (on this ground against Afghanistan) is a testament to his quality. He gets off strike with a swift single that forced van der Dussen to get through the gears. A direct hit at the striker’s end might have made things interesting. Van der Dussen tucks a couple down the leg side to keep the score ticking.
“So, SA get to play the loser of NZ-India, is that right?”
That’s right, Alistair Connor, provide the Proteas win this, that is.
“So for my team, with the advantage of playing the last group game, choice of opponent comes into play. I say they should go all out to beat India, and so face the Aussies in their semi, to possibly finesse the distressingly recurrent choking reflex…
“Also, good practice for the final.
“(Hubris? Moi? I’m just trying to change the subject)“
3rd over: South Africa 16-1 (Rickelton 6, van der Dussen 4) Better from Archer who is attacking the stumps. He’s rewarded with a wicket and has the new man, van der Dussen, inside-edging and hopping around the crease. There’s a wide down leg as well, but that’s always a risk when you bowl wicket to wicket at pace. Van der Dussen gets off the mark with a steer outside off stump that flies away past point for four. Good timing.
WICKET! Stubbs b Archer 0 (South Africa 11-1)
Stubbs’ plays on! A duck in his first innings at the top of the order and he only has himself to blame. He looked to steer a straight and lifting delivery down to deep third but got it all wrong. Off the face of the blade and onto his own stumps. Archer with a muted celebration.
2nd over: South Africa 11-0 (Rickelton 6, Stubbs 0) Saqib Mahmood, who many believe should have been playing from the start of the tournament, opens the other end with his slingy action. He first ball invites a cover drive from Rickelton but the bal squirts off an inside edge and they get two through midwicket. The next ball is popped awkwardly down the ground, but the outfield is like glass so it races to the boundary. Some lift off the deck and that’s a handy start for Mahmood.
1st over: South Africa 5-0 (Rickelton 0, Stubbs 0) Archer, around the wicket to the left-handed Rickelton with a slip and a short-cover in place, starts with four wides down the leg side from six balls. So really he’s only bowled two and conceded five runs – Smith couldn’t gather the last wide and the batters scampered for a single. Not a great start from Archer who kept losing his shape. He tightens up to Stubbs who is watchful for the rest of the over.
Meanwhile, Alex D has some choice words for England’s managing director:
Why isn’t Rob Key getting any pressure or criticism?
He’s taken the best white ball team in the world, and turned them into a bunch of perennial losers now.
He’s taken a poor test team and made them competitive, but it’s criminal what’s happened to this squad in 50 and 20 over formats.
Jofra Archer has his cap off and will take the new ball first tup.
Tristan Stubbs opens the batting for the first time in List A cricket in place of the unwell pair of Tony de Zorzi and Temba Bavuma. Ryan Rickelton will be on strike.
Cheers Tim, at least one Englishman had a belter today!
My four-year-old’s drama teachers are convinced they can put on a semi-coherent production of Alice in Wonderland. Let’s just say I’ve got more faith in England defending this total. But he has fun, which is all that counts.
Can England find any joy in this defence of 179? I wouldn’t bet the farm on it. Their bowling has been worse than their batting this Champions Trophy and if that’s anything to go by we could be outta here in next to no time.
South Africa will have to make these runs without Aiden Markram who tweaked a hammy, but they really should’t need him.
If you’ve got any thoughts you’d like to share drop me a line before you run out of time.
Time for me to hand over. The only thing that went right in that innings was that Buttler and Archer hung around long enough for my colleague Daniel Gallan to make it home from his kids’ drama class. We need to know more about that – were they dipping a toe in one of Shakespeare’s tragedies? Or just having fun?
Anyway, thanks for your company, correspondence and reflections on England’s sad decline. They are white-ball cricket’s answer to Man United.
Either side of a breezy stand between Joe Root and Harry Brook, England were awful. South Africa didn’t have to bowl all that well, but Marco Jansen was incisive early on and outstanding later in the field, Keshav Maharaj was his usual astringent self, and Wiaan Mulder did well with a style of bowling, busy medium, for which Brendon McCullum may have a new-found respect.
The South Africans have lost their stand-in captain, Aiden Markram, to a hamstring injury, but this match is as good as won already. And they fully deserve their place in the semis.
WICKET! England 179 all out, SA go through
Rashid is caught behind off Mulder for 2, to complete England’s ignominy – and send SA through to the semi-finals, as the only thing that could stop them was if England won today by 207 runs. Some hope.
37th over: England 175-9 (Rashid 1, Mahmood 2) Adil Rashid and Saqib Mahmood are playing themselves in. May as well do.
“Talent?” says the subject line of an email from Gary Naylor. “It’s always a bit of a dirty word in coaching (because it’s largely independent of their input),” he reckons, “but England are short on talent aren’t they?” Go on …
“In this XI, the only players who look like they have what it takes at this level are Duckett (England debut 2016), Root (2012), Brook (2022), Buttler (2011), Archer (2019) and Rashid (2009). That’s only two talents brought through in nine years, so half a new team needed.
“To some extent, this is the product of loyalty in supporting players going through bad patches, but nobody at Surrey would pick Jamie Overton ahead of Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone is wasting a batting and bowling slot. Radical change is needed, starting with Rehan Ahmed being picked to play not just to watch and two or three ‘Bethells’ being given a chance.”
Agreed about Curran and Livingstone. But they have actually tried plenty of players, from Will Jacks (15 ODIs) to Sam Hain (two) and Dan Mousley (three). The bigger problem, for me, is that they haven’t built a regular XI who all know their roles. And McCullum’s entrance has made things worse because he has changed the bowling strategy – from a varied attack to just Rashid plus high pace which can be very hittable – and spurned some of England’s best one-day players, from Curran to Liam Dawson and Jonny Bairstow.
36th over: England 174-9 (Rashid 1, Mahmood 1) Message to younger readers: this is what England’s one-day team were like until Andrew Strauss decided enough was enough, installed Eoin Morgan as captain, and gave him some proper backing.
Buttler didn’t get that. It’s vital that England don’t make the same mistake with his successor.
WICKET! Buttler c Maharaj b Ngidi 21 (England 173-9)
On his last outing as captain, Jos Buttler was England’s last hope. He stuck around but couldn’t find his fluency, and now he has chipped a slower ball to mid-off.
35th over: England 171-8 (Buttler 20, Rashid 0) So Jansen, not content with taking three early wickets, now has two fine catches. This one was low to his left, and he dived and grabbed it as if he was Jonty Rhodes.
WICKET! Archer c Jansen b Mulder 25 (England 171-8)
Archer whips Mulder’s medium-pace to midwicket, where Jansen takes another great low catch.
34th over: England 167-7 (Buttler 18, Archer 24) Jansen continues and struggles with his line, bowling two wides and allowing Archer to glance for two, then top-edge over the keeper for four. Archer now has 59 runs in the tournament, which is more than five of the eight batters who come in before him – Salt, Smith, Brook, Livingstone and Overton.
33rd over: England 159-7 (Buttler 18, Archer 18) This is Maharaj’s last over and Buttler elects to see him out. It’s a maiden, so Maharaj finishes with 10-1-35-2, like a spinner from the 1970s.
32nd over: England 159-7 (Buttler 18, Archer 18) Marco Jansen is back. It feels like several days ago now that he started the rot in this innings with three top-order wickets. He goes for just two singles, but that won’t bother Buttler, who just needs to hang in there. He and Archer have added 30 off 40 balls, although they will still be doing very well if they grabbing respectability from the jaws of embarrassment.
31st over: England 153-7 (Buttler 14, Archer 16) Archer pulls Rabada for four as Buttler continues to bide his time. All England have to do is double the 30-over score and they’ll have their 300 again.
Here’s Phil Withall, waxing philosophical. “I’m about to put the day (and myself) to bed,” he says. “I’ve been thinking about my lifestyle choices recently. I’ve been cigarette free for two months, I have a smug wristband that offers me motivational insights into my life. I am on a road to a better me, giving up what does me ill.
“On that note, why do I still love cricket? Why do I still support Norwich City (since I was 5) and Tooting and Mitcham United ( a sporting STD I picked up and can’t shake off) when all three bring me disappointment and hurt? Alternatives welcomed, although I fear sporting self-abuse is not something you can easily quit….”
29th over: England 147-7 (Buttler 12, Archer 13) Maharaj continues and it’s back to two off the over.
An interesting thought from John Starbuck. “Graham O’Reilly is spot on with his football management analogy. Baz’s tenure has already exceeded that of many footie managers with loads of failures. If there is a shake-up, whoever becomes the next one should sound out Stuart Broad for a role: gets on well with people, is highly analytical and has vast experience. He might find a media career is easy enough and committing to a life of more difficulty and travel could be off-putting, but he really ought to be a candidate.”
28th over: England 145-7 (Buttler 12, Archer 11) Things are so bad for England that they can’t even score off a free hit, as Rabada makes up for overstepping by arrowing a yorker into Archer’s toes. But then there are signs of life as Archer plays a pull and an upper cut, both for four.
27th over: England 132-7 (Buttler 10, Archer 1) Three singles off Maharaj’s over. Among their other troubles, England are all at sea against spin in the subcontinent – a caption shows that they average 18 against it in ODIs. I didn’t catch the time-span of the stat, but you get the drift.
26th over: England 129-7 (Buttler 8, Archer 0) Jofra Archer has done well at the death in this tournament, throwing the bat, but now he has time to make a painstaking 50, which may not be his thing. At the other end, poor old Jos Buttler is in danger of ending his stint as captain with 12 not out.
WICKET! Overton c Ngidi b Rabada 11 (England 129-7)
Another one bites the dust. And it’s another fine piece of fielding as Overton plays a mis-timed chip over the bowler and Lungi Ngidi runs back, keeps his eye on the ball and dives to grab the catch.
25th over: England 129-6 (Buttler 8, Overton 11) When Maharaj drops short for once, Overton is alert to it and he cuts for four. That’s only the third time England have found the boundary since the end of the 12th over. And this is a fast outfield. One odd thing about their tournament is that they managed to reach 300 twice with so many batters out of form – Salt, Smith, Brook, Livingstone.
24th over: England 124-6 (Buttler 8, Overton 6) Buttler and Overton are getting them in singles, which is probably wise as there’s just the tail to come.
And here’s Graham O’Reilly. “If this was footie, it would be the manager who was ‘let go’, not the captain. Why did anyone think that Baz was the answer to a completely different question to that which got him the gig with the Test team? Make the 5-day guys play with a bit of one-day pizazz, OK. But the short-game boys didn’t need that – they already knew what they were doing. All he’s brought is incompetent team selection and death-wish batting. There must be multiple choices who could do better.”
22nd over: England 116-6 (Buttler 5, Overton 1) Aiden Markram doesn’t have to do anything at the moment: he can just leave England to self-destruct. But he opts to give Mulder a rest (5-0-20-1, another one in the eye for McCullum’s all-pace policy) and brings back Ngidi, perhaps in order to boost his confidence. His over goes for just two singles.
21st over: England 114-6 (Buttler 4, Overton 0) So England, who always have a collapse up their sleeve, have produced two of them today, losing three wickets for 28 early on and now three for 15.
On the bright side, Jamie Overton has a 90 in a Test match, and he’s got time to make another one here.
WICKET! Livingstone st Klaasen b Maharaj 9 (England 114-6)
Bad to worse. Liam Livingstone, who had just played a nice lap for four off Maharaj, goes down the track, misses, and is easily stumped.
