CHITTAGONG: South Africa has defeated England by 3 runs eliminating them from the race of semi-finals on Saturday at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong, ARY News reported.
England after winning the toss put South Africa in to bat.
South Africa posted 196, the highest score of the tournament after being invited by England to bat first.
Their two best players Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers displayed quality performance under pressure which allows them to rack up a huge total.
A 90- run opening stand laid a strong foundation for South Africa, Hashim Amla played an aggressive knock of 56 runs in 37 balls, and he was well supported by Quinton de Kock, who remained silent at the other hand scoring 29 off 33.
AB de Villiers, South Africa's stand-in captain, stepping in for the suspended Faf du Plessis made a healthy contribution of 69 off 28. He played with the strike rate of 246.42 hitting nine 4s and three 6s.
England, who made their record chase the other night against Sri Lanka put great fight in the chase but remained 3 runs short.
Many of their batsmen got start but none of them able to carry it for long. Alex Hales (38), Jos Butler (34) and Ravi Bopara made 31.
Tim Bresnan showed great aggressiveness and scored 17 in just 4 balls that brought England very close to victory ending at 193 against the chase of 197.
Wayne Parnell took three wickets conceding 31 in his 4 overs while Imran Tahir backed two English batsmen.
With the victory South Africa has now cruised past into the semi-finals with six points making the equation simple as Sri Lanka and New Zealand still need to play each other so only one of those can end on six points, and the winner will proceed into the semi-final along with SA.
