England in semi-finals, SA crash out

Manoj Vatsyayana

England stormed into the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a 22-run victory over South Africa who crashed out of the tournament despite captain Graeme Smith's brave century here on Sunday.

Smith hit a career-best 141 for his eighth one-day hundred but his team were still restricted to 301-9 while chasing a 324-run target.

The defeat also eliminated the hosts, who needed 313 to stay ahead of Sri Lanka on net run-rate. "It's hugely disappointing. I think it's about giving your all, unfortunately we fell 22 runs short," said Smith.

England have won both of their games in the four-team Group B, while South Africa and Sri Lanka finished their league engagements with one win apiece in three matches.

New Zealand, who have one win in two matches, will take on England in the last group match on Tuesday.

CENTURION, AFP

ENGLAND 323

SOUTH AFRICA

G. Smith c Shah b Broad			141
H. Gibbs c Wright b Anderson		 22
J. Kallis c Denly b Broad		 12
AB de Villiers c Denly b Collingwood	 36
JP Duminy b Swann			 24
M. Boucher b Anderson			  8
A. Morkel run out			 17
J. Botha c Onions b Broad		  0
R. Van der Merwe b Anderson		  0
W. Parnell not out			 10
D. Steyn not out			 17

Extras (lb8, nb1, w5)			 14
Total (for nine wickets; 50 overs)	 301
Fall of wickets: 1-42 (Gibbs), 2-64 (Kallis), 3-142 (de Villiers), 4-206 (Duminy),
 5-230 (Boucher), 6-255 (Morkel), 7-255 (Botha), 8-263 (Van der Merwe), 9-274 (Smith).
Bowling; Anderson 10-0-42-3 (nb1, w4), Onions 7-0-52-0, Broad 10-0-67-3 (w1), Wright 5-0-31-0, Collingwood 10-0-58-1, Swann 8-0-43-1.