England Smash South Africa To Claim Series Win

England have done it again!

They've hammered South Africa by 126 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

South Africa appear to have no answer for England and this defeat is just as big as their 10-wicket defeat at Trent Bridge in the second ODI.

The English posted a total of 296/7 thanks to 73 and 78 by the in-form pair of Ian Bell and Andrew Flintoff, respectively.

Johan Botha managed to impress for South Africa today, which is no mean feat. The spinner took 2/35 off his nine overs.

Makhaya Ntini went for 68 off his nine over spell. Dale Steyn for 61 off his 10!

So why didn't Botha get that last over?

The Proteas failed to respond and never once looked like chasing down the target of 297. Hashin Amla did well up front with 46 at almost a run per ball in place of injured skipper Graeme Smith.

No starts with nobody playing on and taking the game to England was the story of the day for South Africa again—very much like the first ODI at Headingley, and only marginally better than the Trent Bridge debacle.

South Africa were all out for 170 after 42.4 hours.

Another quite appalling performance by the world's No. 2 side.

The man of the match was Samit Patel who took 5/41 with the ball and scored 31 with the bat to cement England's win.

The man in the picture, Steve Harmison, was again fantastic with figures of 1/28 off his nine overs. He really does have as much to do with England's recent success as the new skipper Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen's men will be smelling a whitewash, and any hope of South Africa putting in a performance before they fly home with their tails between their legs seem at best remote.

Congratulations to England on their Natwest Series victory.

Did you know?

Should England whitewash South Africa 5-0 they'll overtake their opponents, who currently sit second, in the world ODI rankings. England were fifth before the series started.

It would also be only England's second ever whitewash of an opposition in an ODI series. The team they previously beat 5-0 in an ODI series was Zimbabwe.

This would be a little sweeter.