ENG vs SA: Clinical South Africa hand England biggest ODI defeat

Rampant South Africa left Englands World Cup title defence in absolute shambles here on Saturday handing the reigning champions their biggest loss in history of ODI cricket by 229 runs in one of the most dominant allround performances in recent timesHaving amassed the second highest total of 3997 in this years edition the first also belongs to the Proteas South African pace battery ran through Englands famed batting lineup with tremendous ease terminating their innings at 170 in 22 oversIn World Cup history South Africas win over England is now the jointsixth highest by margin of runsFor a side which lifted the last two whiteball ICC tournaments England have hit the nadir in this edition as their woes deepened further across departments They are now placed ninth in 10team tableA wrong call at the toss was followed by a poor bowling show but what left a huge embarrassment to deal with for England was a stunning collapse on a battingfriendly surface here which saw Jos Buttlers team rolling over for 170 for nine in 22 oversIf it was not for a ninthwicket 70run stand between Mark Wood 43 not out and Gus Atkinson 35 Englands loss will feature among one of the worst in history of ODI cricketFor what it is worth Reece Topley unavailable to batThe return of their spiritual leader Ben Stokes who did not bowl and managed a mere 5 also had no impact whatsoever as he played his first game in this World Cup since returning back from retirementAlongside the catastrophic defeat Buttlers call to bowl first in most humid conditions would also rankle for times to come since Englands recent record of chasing iquest only three wins in 11 matches since January 2022 did not back them up enoughJonny Bairstow 10 was bounced out by Lungi Ngidi 226 Joe Root 2 meekly played one to leg slip off Marco Jansen 235 who also had Dawid Malan 6 caught behindKagiso Rabada 135 took a sharp return catch to end Stokes stayThe young Gerald Coetzee 335 then got into the act to account for Harry Brook 17 Buttler 15 and Adil Rashid 10 to pile further misery on EnglandEnglands disintegration began when Heinrich Klaasen produced a hundred of the highest quality in extremely humid conditions to fire South Africa to their highest total in a World Cup contest against themKlaasen resurrected South Africa with his third century of the year and overall fourth hammering 109 off just 67 balls while Jansen smashed a terrific 75 not out 42 balls 3x4s 6x6sSouth Africa stumbled in the middle overs after Reeza Hendricks 85 off 75 balls 9x4s 3x6s and Rassie van der Dussen 60 off 61 balls 8x4s ensured a strong platform leaving Klaasen with the challenge to do the heavylifting in the final 15 overs even though he was well supported by JansenFor Hendricks who scored a century on debut five years ago the wait to make another century only extendedKlaasen and Jansen together pulled South Africa from the danger of being restricted to an atpar totalWhile Klaasen had four sixes and 12 fours to show for his stupendous effort Jansen also used long handle to a good effect getting half a dozen maximums apart from three foursKlaasen regularly needed fluid intake during his innings but even while cramping up a bit didnt leave the pitch unlike a few English bowlers who found the heat unbearableAnd even if he would have wanted to celebrate such a monumental knock more than he did iquest a gesture towards the sky iquest Klaasen did not have much left in his tank when he smacked Mark Wood 70760 for a six and a four to complete his ton in the 47th overKlaasen and Jansen added 151 runs for the sixth wicket off just 77 balls which is now a record for South Africa against England in ODIs as well as in World Cup historyThe wheels came off for England as a total of 143 runs were scored off the final 10 overs whereas the last five produced as many as 84This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever