Champions Trophy England: South Africans Out On Home Turf. Again,

Before the tournament nobody gave England a hope in winning it. Quite the opposite to what was predicted for South Africa, who were tipped as one of the favourites to win the competition. But on a searing September day at Centurion Park, England came up with one of the finest one day performances in recent memory, which saw a century deserving innings from Owais Shah and a fluent one day innings from Eoin Morgan that was remiscent of Kevin Pietersen when he exploded on the seen 3 years ago, against the very same opponents.

When England batted first, none of us expected that we would last much more than forty overs with the devastating pace Steyn, the bounce of Morkel (A) or the machine like accuracy of Parnell, not to mention the fact that the Spring Boks are possibly the best fielding side in the world. As the innings opened up, Strauss and Denly got us to 48 with relative ease before they were both out at 59-2. Cue the fightback with a mammoth 170+ run partnership between the heavy hitting Owais Shah and the cool and intelligent Paul Collingwood. Suddenly on 98, South Africa got Owais Shah out when he bat-padded to Mark Boucher off the ordinary Johan Botha. This brought Eoin Morgan to the crease and not even Nostradamus could have foretold the next chapter in this compelling game.

 Morgan's first shot was a cheeky reverse sweep to the third man boundary and this set the tone for his innings. Stylish, flamboyant and destructive. Morgan cracked 67 off 34 balls and this helped England to a mammoth 323-8 off 50 overs. Could they upset the entire host nation and knock out the supposed number 1 team in the world?

As South Africa came out to bat, England fans would have been quietly confident that their boys could knock out the hosts and tournaments, and book themselves a guaranteed place in the semi finals. It was a good start by England too when Herschelle Gibbs skied one to the safe hands of Luke Wright.

 A period of consolidation was then taken by South Africa after Kallis was dismissed, and the able de Villiers put on a good partnership with Smith to raise the hopes of millions. Wickets fell at regular intervals and whilst Smith looked his fluent best, no one was there to hold up the other end and it was just a matter of time for England.

The game was not without controversy though, as Smith was struck by cramp and denied a runner by Strauss. Will this come to bear greater things in South Africa - England series later this winter?

As the game ended with what can only be described as batting practice for Steyn and Parnell, England fans and players alike were jubilant with the result that had just been achieved, whereas Mickey Arthur and the South African team looked dispondant on the balcony. All in all, it was a brilliant game that saw 4 superb batting innings and 1 piece of bowling excellence in James Anderson's spell that contained the Proteas and took wickets, and as none of us expected, a deserved victory for the English on a historic evening.