England dumped out

Andrew Hall removes Paul Nixon en route to sensational figures of 5-18 © Getty Images

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England’s World Cup dreams were crushed by a rampant South Africa, who booked their place in the semi-finals courtesy of a resounding nine-wicket win in Barbados.

Knowing victory would all but secure their place in the last four of the tournament, England produced comfortably their worst performance since arriving in the Caribbean and can have no complaints after being thoroughly outplayed at the Kensington Oval.

They were as impotent as South Africa were powerful, the hugely one-sided nature of this Super Eight contest underlined by the fact the Proteas reached a meagre total of 155 with 30.4 overs to spare.

If England’s batsmen were swept aside by a South Africa seam attack led by the magnificent Andrew Hall, who returned figures of 10-2-18-5, their bowlers were treated with nothing short of contempt by AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith.

De Villiers hit 42 off 35 balls but his innings appeared positively pedestrian alongside that of Smith, the skipper smashing 13 boundaries - one fewer than the England team managed - in a savage unbeaten 89 off just 58 deliveries.

While England’s bowling became increasingly ragged and the fielders visibly demoralised as South Africa sped towards a far from challenging target, a miserable batting display lay at the heart of their defeat.

Their innings was undermined by the loss of three early wickets and, more crucially, a middle-order collapse which saw five batsmen fall in as many overs to destroy what little momentum there was.

Andrew Flintoff falls victim to Hall as England are bowled out for just 154 © Getty Images

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Hall, producing a display of swing bowling as good as any at this World Cup, was the architect behind England’s downfall, capturing the last four of those wickets in a sensational second spell.

Andre Nel claimed 3-35, which included the scalps of Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen, and it said much for England’s travails that only two batsmen - Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood - reached 30.

That South Arica were kept in the field until the 48th over owed much to a ninth-wicket stand of 23 between Ravi Bopara and Monty Panesar after England had slipped to 121 for eight.

Bopara was left stranded on 27 not out when James Anderson was adjudged leg before to the final ball of Hall’s spell, giving the all-rounder his maiden five-wicket haul in one-day internationals.

But for a fourth-wicket partnership between Strauss and Collingwood, England rarely looked like setting anything resembling a challenging total.

Vaughan and Ian Bell managed only nine runs in the opening seven overs - Vaughan took 20 balls to get off the mark - and frustration was the most plausible explanation for the ambitious pull which Bell top-edged to Ashwell Prince.

The captain, having unfurled a sumptuous pull over mid-wicket, was leg before playing across the line to Nel, and Pietersen - never comfortable on a pitch which offered ample encouragement for the bowlers - attempted to work Nel to leg but succeeded merely in giving Smith a smart, diving catch at mid-off.

Graeme Smith propels South Africa to victory with a brutal unbeaten 89 © Getty Images

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Strauss and Collingwood deserve considerable credit for the application demonstrated during their 16-over alliance, riding their luck to some extent - a handful of edges landed safely - before Strauss slashed Jacques Kallis to Smith at a lone fourth slip.

It was the first of five wickets to fall in the space of 28 balls as England failed to cope with Hall’s often exaggerated inswing.

He won an lbw verdict against Collingwood, bowled Andrew Flintoff through the gate, induced an outside edge from Paul Nixon courtesy of a ball slanted across him and removed Sajid Mahmood’s middle stump.

Nel ended Panesar’s stoic innings - he scored two off the 28 deliveries he faced - as the tailender edged a wide, full-length delivery behind, and Hall prevented England batting out their full allocation of overs by rapping Anderson on the toe in front of middle and off.

The manner in which Smith and de Villiers went about the South Africa reply could not have contrasted more starkly with England’s initial caution, the openers adopting an almost reckless approach as Anderson and Mahmood came in for some fearful treatment.

De Villiers struck eight fours before he perished attempting to drive Flintoff on the up through cover, but Smith - determined to make a statement of South Africa’s superiority - continued to pulverise the bowling.

If his meaty cross-batted swipes over mid-wicket, which became increasingly frequent as South Africa closed in on their target, resembled baseball shots, there were several strokes straight from the textbook, including three straight drives in succession off Flintoff.

It was one from such shot off Mahmood that Smith sealed an utterly convincing victory that leaves England with a large amount of pride to salvage from their final game against West Indies on Saturday.