England humiliated by South Africa

ENGLAND captain Michael Vaughan admitted his side had “let a lot of people down” after they were knocked out of the World Cup in humiliating fashion by South Africa yesterday.

After being rolled over for 154 batting first, South Africa, led by an onslaught from Vaughan’s opposite number Graeme Smith’s 89 not out, dismissed England with ease to take the last semi-final place with a nine-wicket victory.

The out-of-form England skipper said: “We were pretty average today and we’ve let a lot of people down.

“Our batting has not been good and we know we need to improve.

“We have a big summer ahead but it’s important that we analyse what went on here. We’ve had a poor winter in all respects.”

England were ruthlessly swept aside at the Kensington Oval as man-of-the-match Andrew Hall claimed five wickets for 18 runs to dismiss them for a lowly 154 — South Africa cruising to a nine-wicket triumph with 30.4 overs remaining.

The emphatic victory sets up a possible semi-final between world champions Australia and South Africa, the two highest ranked sides in the world, in St Lucia on April 25.

By then England’s outclassed squad will be back home while the future of coach Duncan Fletcher and captain Michael Vaughan will inevitably be discussed.

Having bowled with great skill and discipline to dismiss England for a lowly total, South Africa set about their attack with such gusto they brought up the opening half-century partnership in only 34 balls.

The error in England’s ways were highlighted from an early stage after they won the toss and decided to bat first on another fast and bouncy surface.

But faced with accurate new ball spells from Shaun Pollock and Charl Langeveldt, England ran out of scoring options and crawled to only nine runs in the first seven overs.

Vaughan underlined England’s problem by taking 20 deliveries to get off the mark, putting pressure on opening partner Ian Bell, who was caught at midwicket in the next over.

The skipper fell five overs later for a scratchy 17 when he was given lbw to Andre Nel’s second delivery.

With the pressure on, further wickets were inevitable and Kevin Pietersen, desperate to do well against his former country, was unable to deliver.

After a public war of words with Nel and South African captain Smith, Pietersen would have winced at the manner of his dismissal when the pair combined to claim a leading edge at mid-on.

Only a determined 58-run stand between Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood gave England any hope.

But all-rounder Hall virtually ended the match as a contest by claiming four wickets in nine deliveries.

Brought into the attack in the 34th over having already impressed with an opening spell of 5-2-10-0, Hall used reverse swing to tear through the middle order.

Jacques Kallis had struck the previous over with Strauss cutting him straight to Smith at wide slip and then Hall struck with the fifth ball of his new spell, angling the ball into Collingwood and winning the lbw appeal.

The first ball of his next spell was the key wicket, swinging through the gap between Andrew Flintoff bat and pad to knock back his middle stump.

Five balls later he tempted Paul Nixon to edge an outswinger behind.

And he completed his stunning spell in his next over when Sajid Mahmood got an inside edge onto his stumps for a first ball duck, before returning to end the innings with two overs to spare by trapping last man James Anderson lbw.

South Africa were not afraid to attack England’s modest total. Smith hammered an unbeaten 89 off only 58 balls, including 13 fours, the final one of which settled the match when he drove Mahmood down the ground.

He shared a stunning opening stand of 85 in only 9.5 overs with AB de Villiers, ended only when Flintoff tempted de Villiers into edging behind for 42 off 35 balls.

Mahmood had Smith caught behind for 74, only to be no-balled for over-stepping but by then South Africa only needed 18 for victory.