England skittled for 170 by South Africa after being set 400 to win as Jos Buttler's side suffer their record 229-run defeat in ODIs; England may have to win all five of their remaining World Cup matches, including against India and Australia, to make semi-finals after third loss in four
Sunday 22 October 2023 07:16, UK
England's hopes of successfully defending the Cricket World Cup look in tatters after they crumbled to a record 229-run defeat to South Africa on one of the most harrowing white-ball nights in their history.
Jos Buttler's side conceded their highest-ever ODI score of 399-7 as Heinrich Klaasen (109 from 67 balls) and Marco Jansen (75no off 42) plundered 135 runs from the final nine overs at a scorching Mumbai.
The reigning champions then capitulated to 68-6 inside 12 overs and 170 all out in 22 with the returning Ben Stokes caught and bowled for five by Kagiso Rabada in his first appearance of the tournament after overcoming a hip niggle.
England's third defeat in four matches - this one eclipsing their 221-run hammering against Australia in an ODI last year - may not be terminal to their chances of reaching the semi-finals as they suffered a trio of losses in 2019 and still made the knockout stages.
But the manner of the mauling against South Africa could be hard to overcome, with this display more reminiscent of the behind-the-times rabble that were eliminated in the group stage of the 2015 World Cup, not the limited-overs trailblazers they have become since.
England's nine-wicket drubbing to New Zealand to kick off the competition and shock 69-run loss to Afghanistan last Sunday were bad enough, yet the performance against an admittedly excellent South Africa side was dire as Buttler's injury and illness-hit bowlers were flogged and his batters guilty of loose strokes.
It was only some late-innings fireworks from Mark Wood (43no off 17) and Gus Atkinson (35 off 21) that narrowed the enormous margin of England's defeat, with the tailenders smashing 70 from 32 balls.
When Atkinson was cleaned up by spinner Keshav Maharaj, the game was done, with Reece Topley unable to bat owing to a finger injury he had sustained in the field and which may now end his tournament.
Buttler's side must now somehow rally themselves for Thursday's clash with Sri Lanka, knowing they will probably have to win each of the remaining five games, including fixtures against red-hot favourites India and a resurgent Australia, to make the last four.
South Africa, meanwhile, looked every inch the World Cup contenders as they bounced back from being upset by Netherlands last time out, showing the sort of form they had produced when thrashing Sri Lanka and Australia in their first two outings.
England's much-changed side - Stokes, David Willey and Atkinson coming in for Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran - celebrated an early wicket after electing to bowl; Topley nicking off Quinton de Kock second ball after being struck for four first delivery.
Topley and Willey initially kept Reeza Hendricks (85) and Rassie van der Dussen (60) in check during the powerplay, with 29-1 after seven overs a dramatic improvement on recent matches when leaky spells from Woakes and Curran, which ultimately led to those two being dropped against South Africa, allowed teams to get off to fliers.
But that changed when Topley temporarily left the park after taking a whack on the fingers and Willey began to lose his line with Van der Dussen and Hendricks taking their stand to 121 from 116 balls before both were dismissed by England leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Hendricks, playing at late notice due to Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma's illness, took 14 balls to get off the mark but then played some coruscating strokes before he chopped a Rashid googly onto his stumps two deliveries into the 26th over.
When stand-in skipper Aiden Markram (42) and David Miller (5) departed in quick succession, out to Topley after the England man returned to the field with the index and middle fingers on his bowling hand taped together, South Africa were tottering a little on 243-5 in the 37th over.
The boundaries dried up for a period but the Proteas burst back into life in the final 10 overs amid a blizzard of sixes and fours with a drenched-in-sweat Klassen powering his way to a 61-ball century - the 13th South African man to register a World Cup ton - and Jansen reaching fifty from 35 balls.
Klaasen's brutality was perhaps to be expected - this is a player who trounced 13 sixes and as many fours while drumming Australia for 174 from 83 balls at Centurion last month - but Jansen's perhaps less so.
Three of Jansen's six sixes against England came in Topley's 26-run 49th over, while the bowler's team-mates Wood and a cramping-up Willey were also taken apart during a scarcely believable end to the innings, one which concluded with two wickets for Atkinson (2-60) in the final over, including Klassen bowled around his legs.
The start of England's innings was scarcely believable, too, with Jonny Bairstow's dismissal for 10, caught in the deep attempting a six off Lungi Ngidi, triggering a staggering collapse.
Joe Root (2) clipped Jansen to leg slip and Dawid Malan (6) tickled the same bowler down the leg-side to De Kock, while England's chances looked all but over when Stokes chipped back to Rabada.
Gerald Coetzee (3-35) then had Buttler (15) and Harry Brook (17) caught behind and lbw respectively in the space of three balls at the start of the 12th over and a shellshocked England were 100-8 when Coetzee accounted for Rashid (10) and Rabada took a flying catch at mid-off to dismiss Willey (12) off the bowling off Ngidi.
Wood and Atkinson spanked 14 boundaries between them - Wood's haul including five sixes as he dished out some of the punishment he had received earlier on from South Africa's batters - but it was too little, too late for England, who are now deep in the World Cup mire.
England captain Jos Buttler:
"I think you always reflect after games and question your decisions. With hindsight, with the physicality of that innings, potentially batting first would have been a better decision.
"It's a decision I took at the time. I thought it was the right one and I still believe if we were chasing 340, 350, we would have done really well in those conditions.
"[This defeat] certainly leaves us in a tough position. There's no room for error from here on in and it's going to be incredibly difficult. But we'll keep the belief. We'll sit down and go again. That's all you can do in this situation.
"I think it's obvious that we're not performing to our best. It's my job as captain, along with the rest of the team, to work out how we can get back to playing that brand of cricket, playing to our potential and getting back to our best."
Sky Sports Cricket pundit Nasser Hussain:
"England keep getting their decisions wrong. They got the toss and the balance of the side wrong. The three changes in the XI moved them completely away from how they have been playing for years.
"The quality of performance was not good enough but get your decision-making right. I hear a lot about statistics, and [former captain] Eoin Morgan used statistics, but there was a lot of gut feeling, too. Don't just go to your default settings.
"England look like a side that has no confidence. They lost three games in the last World Cup but you felt that was a side that had confidence and were playing a style and brand of cricket where they could bounce back.
"England need to win seven games on the bounce to defend the World Cup. They don't look like a side that could do that at the moment. I still think England could do it but they have to get their decision-making right."
England meet Sri Lanka in Bangalore on Thursday (9.30am first ball UK time) while South Africa face Bangladesh in Mumbai on Tuesday (9.30am first ball UK time).
Watch every game from the Cricket World Cup live on Sky Sports between now and the final on Sunday November 19 - or stream without a contract through NOW.
