England beaten by South Africa

18 November 2005

The England Learning Disabilities side lines up

The England Learning Disabilities side put up a brave performance against their South African counterparts on Thursday but were ultimately outclassed in Oudtshoorn, eventually going down by 10 wickets.

Knowing that a win was needed to have an outside chance of the Final, England reshuffled their team to play the Proteas.

Ian Crumplin came in for Iklaq Ahmed, while Jonathon Simpson (left) replaced Amar Azis and Doug Randall returned from injury.

England won the toss and elected to bat first but once again suffered an early setback when new opener Mark O'Brian was bowled with only one run on the board.

The gulf in class between the two teams was apparent as South Africa continued to take wickets. Only Ronnie Abbott, Randall and John Taylor showed any kind of resistance against some consistent South African bowling.

The win for South Africa confirmed their place in the Final.