Decades Tournament - 2000s South Africa v 2000s England

 

South Africa crushed England by 9 wickets at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, to clinch their place in the next round of the Decades tournament.

England captain Michael Vaughan won the toss and batted first.  His decision may have appeared the correct one as England made it to 126 for 2, before they collapsed once again in this group.  Makhaya Ntini took 6 for 37 in 21 overs as England slumped to 271 all out.  86 from Kevin Pietersen and half centuries from Flintoff and Vaughan were the main standouts in Englands innings.

South Africa slipped to 77 for 3 in reply as Harmison and Flintoff got among their lineup early.  AB de Villiers then turned the game on its head with a brilliant 266 at almost a run a ball.  He shared a stand of 252 with Mark Boucher who went on to make 103 himself, and South Africa ended their first innings 497 all out.

Dale Steyn then made a man of the match performance, taking 8 for 87, and he was instrumental in reducing England to 325 all out, leaving his team needing just 100 to win.  

South Africa reached their target with only the loss of their captain.  Steyns bowling performance was brilliant but it was AB de Villiers innings (at a strike rate of 94) that changed the game and gave South Africa the chance to win it.  As such he was well deserving of the Man of the Match award.

South Africa 2000s: GC Smith [c]; HH Gibbs; ND McKenzie; AB de Villiers; JH Kallis; MV Boucher [w]; CK Langeveldt; M Ntini; PR Adams; DW Steyn; N Boje

England 2000s: ME Trescothick; AJ Strauss; MP Vaughan [c]; KP Pietersen; PD Collingwood; A Flintoff; GO Jones [w]; MJ Hoggard; SP Jones; SJ Harmison; MS Panesar

England 2000s 1st Innings 271-10 (72.4 Ov)

KP Pietersen 86, A Flintoff 59, MP Vaughan 54, M Ntini 6-37, CK Langeveldt 2-26

South Africa 2000s 1st Innings 497-10 (112.3 Ov)

AB de Villiers 266, MV Boucher 103, HH Gibbs 42, A Flintoff 4-119, SJ Harmison 3-86

England 2000s 2nd Innings 325-10 (98.5 Ov)

A Flintoff 77, PD Collingwood 71, ME Trescothick 54, DW Steyn 8-87, N Boje 2-87

South Africa 2000s 2nd Innings 100-1 (24.5 Ov)

GC Smith 45, HH Gibbs 43*

South Africa 2000s win by 9 wickets

Man of the Match: AB de Villiers

South Africa are joined by the Rest of the World as qualifiers from this group.  England will be disappointed that this group of players have failed to qualify, but they lost key sessions that would have seen them win more games.

Australia and India finish off this group with their match in Canberra before we move on to Group J.