England Suffer Heaviest ODI Loss; Will Defending Champs Qualify For World Cup Semis?

Mumbai: England got the ultimate hammering at the hands of South Africa in the ODI World Cup clash at Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday evening.

South Africa, surprised to have been asked to bat first in hot and humid conditions, punished the English bowlers to post a massive 399/7, thanks to some great power hitting by Heinrich Klaasen (109 off 67 balls) and Marco Jansen (75 not out off 42).

Chasing a massive 400-run target, the defending champions were bowled out for 170 and lost by 229 runs. It was England’s heaviest defeat in World Cup history, as well as in all their ODIs.

Having lost badly to New Zealand in the tournament opener and stunned by Afghanistan in their previous game, England have been pushed to ninth place with a dismal net run-rate of -1.248 and are in a near-hopeless position in their bid to qualify for the semifinals.

England are still in the race arithmetically, but will have to win their remaining five matches – against Sri Lanka (October 26), India (October 29), Australia (November 4), The Netherlands (November 8) and Pakistan (November 11) – to finish in the top four.

Jos Buttler’s men also need to keep an eye on the net run-rate and look to win their matches by big margins in case they finish tied on points with another team.

Brief scores: 399/7 in 50 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 109, Reeza Hendricks 85, Marco Jansen 75 not out, Rssie van der Dussen 60; Reece Tople 3/88). England 170 all out in 22 overs (Mark Wood 43 not out; Gerald Coetzee 3/35).

Result: South Africa won by 229 runs.