Shambolic England crumble to heaviest World Cup defeat against South Africa

South Africa, 399-7, beat England, 170, by 229 runsThey say the higher you rise, the harder you fall and England’s double world champions have fallen brutally hard. Despite being brought low by two defeats in their first three World Cup games they promised they could yet scale new heights; against South Africa they plumbed fresh depths: the most runs they have conceded and their biggest losing margin.

England were left needing to score 400 and managed 170. They came into this game with six specialist batters, betting that at least a few would come good in a notoriously batting-friendly venue; inside 12 overs they were all gone. South Africa bowled well but sometimes this is a game of the mind and England’s were scrambled. A 33-ball, 73-run partnership between Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson at the end only underlined their teammates’ failings.

In that moment the match shifted. Before Topley’s injury South Africa had faced 39 balls and scored 20; in the remainder of the powerplay they scored 39 runs from 21 and the momentum would never switch again.At this point England seemed to fall apart. Adil Rashid, suffering from a stomach upset, repeatedly left the field and was obviously uncomfortable for much of the time he was on it, while still managing to be by a massive margin his team’s most effective bowler.

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