Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen picked three wickets each in a dominating bowling performance as South Africa bowled out England for just 179, the lowest total of 2025 Champions Trophy, in the final Group B clash at the National Stadium on Saturday. Wiaan Mulder (3-25), Marco Jansen (3-39) and Keshav Maharaj (2-35) toyed with a struggling England to bundle them out for an underwhelming total 179.
It’s form they’ll happily back, as they move into the knockout phase. Marco Jansen has been central to that, off the back of a strong performance that earned Marco Jansen Player of the Match honours against England, taking 3/39 off seven overs, along with three catches.
By virtue of doing this, South Africa confirmed their spot in the semifinals of the 2025 Champions Trophy, where they will face either India or New Zealand in the knockout fixture. England came into this game with nothing at stake, except to try and sign off on a bright note, but continued to be severely out-of-sorts with the bat, as demonstrated by their struggles that went on for 38.2 overs.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : It’s pretty warm out here, the good news is that there is no chance of rain today. Talking about the dimensions, 62m to my left and 67m to my right and 79m down the ground. It’s the quickest outfield in the tournament so there’s value for shots.
A lot of cracks, looks very Australian in nature, it’s not going to hurt the batters much. After dark, it turns more for the spinners. South Africa have already played here against Afghanistan so that gives them an advantage. It looks like a very good surface for batting, reckon Shaun Pollock and Ramiz Raja.
Toss : England one time last skipper in ODIs Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bat with one expected change in the playing XI as injured Mark Wood gets replaced by Saqib Mahmood. South Africa stand in skipper Aiden Markram who is happy to chase made two changes in the playing XI bringing in Tristan Stubbs and Heinrich Klassen for Temba Bavuma and Tony De Zorzi.
Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder’s 3 wickets alongside brilliant ground fielding restricts England to paltry 179 all out
Jos Buttler won his last toss as England’s white-ball captain and decided to bat first having noted South Africa’s thumping 107-run win over Afghanistan at the same venue earlier in the tournament. His top-order, though, crumbled against Jansen, who took out Phil Salt, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett quickly.
For the 25th time in 31 ODI innings, Salt fell inside the PowerPlay, top-edging a pull shot to Rassie van der Dussen at mid-wicket. Duckett looked to move on quickly as he punished Lungi Ngidi’s erratic lines with successive fours. But Marco Jansen dismissed his batting partner – Jamie Smith – in the next over with another short ball that Smith unconvincingly pulled to Aiden Markram at mid-on. Duckett fell to a delivery on the leg side that he failed to flick away. The ball instead popped up off the leading edge back to Marco Jansen for a catch.
Having already exited the tournament after their defeat to Afghanistan and with Jos Buttler announcing he would step down as captain, England had nothing to lose and were expected to play with freedom.\
They showed their intent early when Phil Salt cracked Marco Jansen’s second ball over backward point and smashed the fourth one over midwicket to open the scoring with fours. But, instead of closing out the opening over quietly, he tried to pull the final ball – a short one – also but top-edged it to van der Dussen at midwicket to end his tournament with a total of 30 runs from 25 balls.
Ben Duckett picked up from where Salt left off and scored two boundaries in three balls off Lungi Ngidi but Jamie Smith repeated Salt’s mistake and tamely pulled Jansen to Markram at mid-on. Duckett settled as he was fed balls on the pads but when he tried to clip Marco Jansen fine, he got a leading edge back to South Africa’s destroyer-in-chief. England were 37 for 3 in the seventh over.
Joe Root arrived feeling adventurous as he took on Marco Jansen, while Harry Brook went after Kagiso Rabada. The pair pushed England to 62/3 in 10 overs and looked set to prolong the recovery process. That only went on until the 17th over when Marco Jansen was once again involved in breaking through. Marco Jansen sprinted to his right from long-on to take an exceptional catch to send Harry Brook packing.
That could have become 38 for 4 when Joe Root cut Kagiso Rabada to backward point and though Mulder got both hands to it, he could not hold on. Root went on to nail the drive and the pull and formed a 62-run stand with a confident-looking Harry Brook and England were building solidly.
But they could not keep Marco Jansen out of the game. When Brook belted Maharaj over midwicket, Marco Jansen ran to his right from long-on and slid on his knees to take a wonder catch. Four balls later, Root was bowled when he missed a leg-side flick off Mulder and the ball hit his back pad on its way on to the stumps.
In the very next over, Wiaan Mulder cleaned up Root, who went to flick a fullish delivery and missed. Maharaj dug his heels further into England with a teasing spell of left-arm spin, accounting for Liam Livingstone soon. The England all-rounder gave the spinner the charge but was undone by the loop and dip, getting out stumped for just 9.
At that stage, Buttler, playing his last innings as England captain, had only faced a ball and had a big job on his hands. He received little help from Liam Livingstone, who charged down the track to meet a Maharaj ball but South Africa’s left-arm spinner saw him coming, tossed it up and had him stumped. Livingstone has only made more than 20 runs once in his last seven innings.
By then, England’s effort looked mostly a case of marking time while South Africa stayed focused on searching for wickets. Rabada was brought back at the halfway stage. He beat Jamie Overton first up, then kept him in check by forcing a defensive shot, and then had him caught at mid-on as the batter tried to attack. He looked to whip Rabada over the leg side but chipped the ball towards mid-on where Ngidi ran back and took a one-handed stunner as he hit the ground.
South Africa continued to catch well: Marco Jansen took a low catch at midwicket to see the end of Jofra Archer and Maharaj made a tumbling grab at mid-off to end Buttler’s innings on 21 and give Ngidi his 100th ODI wicket. England were bowled out in the 39th over, and took South Africa’s concerns about a slow over rate with them.
Heinrich Klassen’s and Rassie Van Der Dussen’s rapid half centuries powers SA into the semi finals with ease
At that stage, South Africa’s semi-final qualification was assured because even if they lost the match, their net run-rate could not dip below Afghanistan’s. That took pressure off the chase but not necessarily off South Africa’s batters, who all wanted runs ahead of an important week. Tristan Stubbs, playing his ninth ODI and first in an ICC event, didn’t get any as he tried to play an Archer ball late but deflected it on to his stumps.
Though his first over lasted ten balls as he struggled to find his line, Archer quickly improved and delivered the rest of his opening spell with good pace and better accuracy. He was rewarded with a second wicket, too, when Ryan Rickelton, who looked confident in his 25-ball 27, was bowled by a delivery that nipped back into him and smashed into middle stump.
The England bowlers started slightly better than their batters as Jofra Archer struck twice in the PowerPlay. Tristan Stubbs fell for a five-ball duck in his first-ever opening gig in professional cricket when he played a ball onto his stumps in the third over.
Saqib Mahmood then offered Ryan Rickleton a reprieve but Archer ensured that didn’t matter as he knocked back the stumps of the other opener in the ninth over. But England struggled to break through any further as van der Dussen and Klaasen put their side comfortably on course to surmount the small target ahead of them.
From there, it was all South Africa. While van der Dussen appeared at times frustrated by his slower scoring rate than Klaasen’s, the pair complemented each other well. Van der Dussen scored largely through the leg side while six of Klaasen’s 11 fours came through the covers. Klaasen reached his fifty with one of those shots off the 41st ball he faced. It was his fifth successive half-century in the format, which is the joint-highest for South Africa.
Jos Buttler tried throwing everything at the pair in search of a wicket. One of England’s best bowlers – Adil Rashid – tried in vain from both ends to break the partnership. Buttler even brought back Archer for his eighth over, in just the 21st of the innings.
Klaasen back foot-punched the quick twice to mark his first game of the tournament with a 41-ball 50. By the halfway of the chase, van der Dussen brought up his fifty. With just six to get, Rashid ended the partnership with the wicket of Klaasen but David Miller sealed the chase with a straight six in the 30th over.
Van der Dussen’s came off 72 balls as he rocked back to send Adil Rashid through square leg and bring up a second fifty in the competition. Klaasen departed when he tried to smash Rashid over fine leg but outside-edged to short third. David Miller hit the winning runs off the second ball he faced when he smoked Livingstone over the sightscreen for six.
South Africa comfortably completed a thorough thrashing of an out-of-sorts England with a seven-wicket victory in Karachi, heading to the semis in style. They’d locked in their spot in the top-four by the halfway stage after bundling out England for just 179.
Heinrich Klaasen made a seamless return to the side after missing the tournament opener through injury, notching up his fifth successive half-century in the format. Rassie van der Dussen scored his fifty too, and added 127 runs for the third wicket with Klaasen before wrapping up the game in the 30th over.
This is the third successive tournament for which South Africa have qualified for the knockouts, after the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. Their semi-final opposition and venue will only be confirmed after the match between India and New Zealand on Sunday. They will play the loser of that match either in Dubai on Tuesday (if it’s India) or Lahore on Wednesday (if it’s New Zealand).
Presentations and Road Ahead
Aiden Markram the stand in winning SA skipper said : (On his hamstring niggle) I think it’s alright, hopefully in the next few days, I can get good rest and recover. (On the pitch) It was slow initially, the boys adapted really well to the conditions. We held our lengths and bowled in good channels. (On Marco Jansen) He has been huge for us, he takes wickets upfront, he finds different ways of doing so and he pairs well with KG as well.
(On Klaasen) He has been in ridiculous sort of form since the last many months. He had a little niggle but he never really left, he has been great for us. (On their plans if they play their semi-final in Dubai) We have to see whether that’s the case and what the conditions will be like, we have a big squad to choose from. The coach generally gets the best out of the players.
Jos Buttler the losing England skipper said : It was really a disappointing performance, we were short of our mark today, so really disappointing. A decent surface, a little bit slow and two-paced, Duckett got us into a nice position but we couldn’t take advantage of that. I don’t know to be honest, as a whole group, we are not getting the results and that takes away the confidence from us. So, it’s a change of scene and we have to see where cricket takes us.
Of course, there is no doubt, the talent is there, we have all the elements to put together a great side, I’m sure Brendon and the guys at the top will formulate some plans and it’s up to the individuals as well to put their mark and assure that the team gets to where it wants to be.
It was a fantastic time to be a world-cup winning captain and that was my best day in my captaincy tenure. Joe has been a shining light and a great example for us. After relinquishing his captaincy, he has played brilliantly and hopefully, I can follow in his footsteps.
Marco Jansen Player of the Match for is 3 wickets and brilliant catches said : It’s a good feeling, the boys worked very hard, good batting conditions from a batting point of view, very happy to go through. I used all my options really well, hit my lengths really well. (On the catch he took to dismiss Brook) Only 28 meters?
Wow! I only saw the ball going up and didn’t think much, I got there really easily. (On making it to the semi-finals) Will take it as it comes but for now, we are going to rest tomorrow.
South Africa confirmed their spot in the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a commanding victory over a hapless England, who ended the tournament winless, captain-less, and on a seven-match losing streak.
After choosing to bat first in Karachi, the most run-laden venue of the event, England played like a side that would rather not. They were bowled out for the lowest total of this Champions Trophy and gifted South Africa wickets in a display of carefree and sometimes careless strokeplay. South Africa were hit by both illness and injury-enforced absences and were not always at their best, but they caught particularly well in the field, paced their chase perfectly, and have plenty of positives to take into the knockouts.
From a bowling perspective, the form of Marco Jansen, who picked up the first three wickets, continues on an upward curve while Keshav Maharaj was effective through the middle overs and Wiaan Mulder cleaned up the tail. South Africa’s batting line-up was without regular openers Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi (both unwell), and Aiden Markram (hamstring injury in the field).
Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen both scored half-centuries in a match-winning third-wicket stand of 127. If anything, it gives South Africa a good selection problem going forward while England just have problems.
South Africa comfortably completed a thorough thrashing of an out-of-sorts England with a seven-wicket victory in Karachi, heading to the semis in style. They’d locked in their spot in the top-four by the halfway stage after bundling out England for just 179.
Heinrich Klaasen made a seamless return to the side after missing the tournament opener through injury, notching up his fifth successive half-century in the format. Rassie van der Dussen scored his fifty too, and added 127 runs for the third wicket with Klaasen before wrapping up the game in the 30th over.
Another clinical display from South Africa has enabled them to finish as table-toppers of Group B. England bow out of CT 2025 with their moral and spirits down. They never looked like they were in the game from the onset today. Perhaps, Buttler’s call to step down as England’s white-ball captain played on their minds. After opting to bat first, the Englishmen were found wanting. They largely gifted their wickets away with none of their players going on to score anything substantial.
179 was always going to be a sub-par score. Stubbs was knocked over by Archer for a duck and then Rickelton couldn’t truly get going and fell to Archer. But, van der Dussen kept ticking the scoreboard over and Klaasen took on the aggressive role. The latter put on a show as he scored freely and kept finding the boundaries consistently to raise his fifty.
There was hardly any fight from England. van der Dussen also changed gears with the target in sight and brought up a fifty of his own. Klaasen fell at the fag end but it was just a consolation wicket for England. South Africa stormed through to victory with 125 balls to spare.
England lost all their group games and leave the sub-continental shores with gloomy memories. Buttler stepping down as England’s white-ball captain will perhaps lead to a paradigm shift for English cricket. But as Buttler mentioned in the post-match interview, we all are hopeful that with no burden of captaincy, Buttler will play with a lot of freedom and once again reinvent himself in ODI cricket.
Root is a prime example of having prospered after relinquishing captaincy. South Africa, on the other hand, march on and enter the semis with their confidence soaring sky high. The blockbuster game between India and New Zealand in Dubai next. The result will give us clarity as to which teams will play each other respectively in first semi-final and second semi-finals of Champions Trophy 2025.