Dominant England cruise into final
England's bowling attack, led by James Anderson and James Tredwell, set up a comprehensive victory completed by Jonathan Trott to secure a place in the Champions Trophy final
England's bowling attack, led by James Anderson and James Tredwell, set up a comprehensive victory completed by Jonathan Trott to secure a place in the Champions Trophy final
Scorer: Binoy George | Commentator: Alex Winter
In fact before I go, there's time to tell you that Tim Bresnan is now a father! His wife has given birth to Max Geoffrey Bresnan. Congratulations to the Bresnan's.
So there we have it, England, as many expected in all fairnace, are in the final of the Champions Trophy and go into Sunday's final with great confidence. They will take on India or Sri Lanka who contest tomorrow's second semi-final in Cardiff, which gets underway at 10.30am BST, so tune in then for all the best live coverage. And I'll be back for the final on Sunday at the same hour. My thanks to Monty for today, but from me, Alex Winter, it's goodbye, see you Sunday...
Presentation time: "The toss wasn't that important," AB de Villiers says. "It didn't really do that much but England got their plans spot on. Under pressure from the word go, we just weren't good enough.
"It was the hardest team selection I've had. Alviro would have been great in the team but we backed Hashim and Colin. I'm especially proud of David Miller and Rory, they kept fighting to the end and that's what I expect from our guys.
"We tried everything with the ball but it got pretty flat in the afternoon. There's no excuses. We had the talent to win this tournament. We just didn't play well enough."
Winning captain Alastair Cook: "That's the performance you want in a semi-final. Jimmy was outstanding which was fantastic. The other guys back him up, especially tricky Tredders. To win any tournament you need everyone to fire and we've got that so far."
Man of the Match goes to "tricky Tredders" James Tredwell for his three wickets.
South Africa have lost yet again in a semi-final and this time it was their batsman that let them down badly. They failed to deal with the new swinging balls and then lost cheap wickets to put themselves out of the game before they had a chance to get into it. James Anderson was at his brilliant best and James Tredwell was excellent again. The only proper application came from David Miller and Rory Kleinveldt but then it was too late and they merely served to save complete humiliation.
That is a thumping, England dominant and have won by seven wickets and qualify for Sunday's final. The damage was done with the ball but a small chase can be tricky, not with Jonathan Trott at the crease it isn't. He's been his usual steady-Eddy best and timed the ball as good as I have seen today, he was superb and has led his side home in fine fashion. There was a mini-scare when Alastair Cook fell cheaply and Ian Bell went with less than a quarter of the target overcome but Trott and Joe Root got together in a partnership of 105 to pick off South Africa, Root again showing great maturity in such a calm innings.
So a brief scare but England have, as expected, cruised it, the last rites...
Tweet report for the Champions Trophy game between India and Sri Lanka
Tweet report for the Champions Trophy game between India and Sri Lanka
Plays of the day from England and South Afirca's Champions Trophy semi-final
Tweet report for the Champions Trophy game between England and South Africa
Gary Kirsten's time in charge of South Africa finished the way of a few men before him, and there appears no end in sight to the team's quest to banish their demons