England eliminated by rampant South Africa

Hales and Lumb got England off to a good start
but it was not enough to see them home.

England's World Cup hopes were ended after a superior South African outfit earned a three-run victory to advance from the group stages, as England's bowling was once again called in to question.

South Africa posted 196-5, meaning England would once again have to break records if they were to successfully chase down the target, but fell desperately short despite a good start from Nottinghamshire duo, Michael Lumb and Alex Hales (38) and a late flurry from the tail-end.

AB De Villiers punished poor bowling as he made 69 from just 28 balls, reaching the fastest fifty for South Africa in a T20 International and shared a crucial stand worth 54 with David Miller (19) as South Africa added 68 runs in the last four overs.

A partnership worth 90 for the first-wicket saw South Africa get off to a good start despite the loss of regular captain, Faf du Plessis, who was banned from this fixture after a slow over rate in the previous match versus the Netherlands.

Hashim Amla led the charge with 56 from 37 as he made his first half-century in this format at international level, but was fortunate to continue his innings after Jos Buttler missed a stumping chance when the opener was on just 19.

Players from both sides became frustrated by a fault to one of the floodlights, which caused delays on two occasions in the South African innings, but England had faults of their own, namely the seam bowlers, who were treated with disdain at both ends of the innings.

Hales became the first England player to score a century in their previous match and with Lumb (18) England were keeping up with the run rate, but their partnership was ended by Wayne Parnell who finished with 3-31.

Parnell removed England's first three batsmen as they lost two wickets in successive deliveries. Hales and Moeen Ali (10) failed to advance after good starts as England fell to 73-3 and the match was slowly slipping out of their hands.

Attempts to rebuild after this blip were blocked by one of the tournaments leading wicket-takers, Imran Tahir (2-27) and his spin earned South Africa their fourth wicket as Eoin Morgan feathered the ball to Quinton de Kock, who had earlier made 29.

Jos Buttler tried to make up for his error with the gloves, smashing 34 from 24 balls and a late surge from Ravi Bopara (31) kept England's hopes alive till the death.

But the match had been lost by England's poor bowling and the efforts of Buttler were thwarted by Tahir who pushed England back to 131-5, still needing 67 runs to win with a lack of batsmen to call upon.

Chris Jordan (16) and Tim Bresnan (17) made quick-fire contributions to assist Bopara as England attempted to prevent the inevitable but England were unable to get over the line, falling desperately short of their target of 197.

After a summer of woe with bat and ball, England will be pleased to see their one-day form receive a boost, particularly in the batting department, but the list of shortcomings continues to exceed the reasons they have to smile in spite of their bravery with the bat.

England's campaign will end on Monday when they play the Netherlands, in a match which has nothing but pride resting on it, but England could do with a healthy dose of this after a disappointing day with the ball.