Proteas smash England in quarters

England, winning the toss and opting to bat first on what Nasser Hussain said was a good batting track, made 5 runs in the first 8 overs, and were bowled out for 182 in a ball over 44 overs. In reply, South Africa made the runs in one ball over 40 overs, for the loss of just two wickets.

Would you guys mind awfully if, at this point, I cut-pasted what I wrote in yesterday's match report about one-sided games in this tournament?

There are a few points that struck you as you watched. The first is South Africa's rigidity of approach in the field. They do it by the book -- the opening bowlers bowl 6 apiece, then the next two come in and bowl 6 apiece, then the two who together make up the 5th bowling option come in and bowl five apiece, that brings you to the 34th over, and then the lead bowlers take over again and finish it off. And throughout, the bowlers concentrate simply on getting the basics of line and length right, while their their top-flight fielders ensure that even the odd bad ball is not too severely punished.

A thought for teams taking them on, perhaps? Like, say, India on Friday? That South Africa are at their best when they play to their plan -- which means the way to go might be to try and disrupt that plan a touch? For instance, ensure you don't give away too many wickets to the opening quartet, allowing you to go flat out against the 5th bowling option, force Shaun Pollock to rethink, bring back his lead bowlers earlier than he likes to, upset the metronomic rhythm of the Proteas?

As far as England goes, meanwhile, they proved yet again, for those who needed proving, that despite all the hype, this team cannot play outside England. What was saddening (or maddening, pick whichever you like) was the complete lack of thought in their batting. Time and again, the obvious trap was set and the batsmen walked into it. Once in an innings happens. Twice, maybe. But four batsmen making the same mistake in one innings?

Trescothick after that incredibly slow start, went the guts or glory route, throwing his bat at everything -- but the first slower ball that came his way, was duly played down mid-on's throat. Nasser Hussain, having an extended run of poor form, came in at his usual number three, and left immediately, pushing away from his body at one on off seaming away, for Boucher to dive and hold. Then came the shocker -- Allan Donald put a man out at deep midwicket, then produced one short in length on middle, and Alec Stewart pulled it straight down the throat of the fielder placed just the ball before, for just that shot.

With Boje bowling, South Africa put a man at square leg, another at mid on, with lots of empty space in between. And a man out on the fence at deep midwicket. The invitation was clear -- here is the space, swing away. Thorpe swung -- straight to deep midwicket. Next up, Flintoff -- and Pollock bowls the slower one, just short enough to tempt the across-the-line hit, and deep midwicket is in business again.

I mean, this was hara kiri of an unbelievably inept kind. Sandwiched in there were two magnificient bits of fielding, by Rhodes and Boje respectively, that produced two run outs and helped the good work along. Graeme Hick alone showed some application, but England overall were completely played in their innings.

What was left was for England to try and take wickets. They didn't -- try, that is. Caddick bowled a superb first over, but from then on, both he and Gough bowled all over the place, pitching too short, too often, and ensuring that the Protean batsmen were never under any kind of pressure at any point, the runs coming steadily through the plethora of gimme-balls the strike bowlers served up. Craig White and Mark Ealham, at their gentle medium pace, are good in England where the conditions allow them to get movement in the air, but in conditions such as these, they were completely at sea. Nasser Hussain also missed a bet when he kept his seam bowlers on for the first half of the Protean innings. Dippenaar hasn't had too much exposure to spin of any kind, Kallis is, if anything, a touch hesitant against spin early in his innings, but Grayson, the left arm orthodox spinner brought in from England to provide the team with some spinning teeth, was left dormant for the first half of the chase, while Hick, who uses his head and can pose a few problems, was never even used.

All four South African batsmen on view looked relaxed and on song -- but it needs saying that at no time were they even remotely tested. The bowling was ordinary, the fielding sub-standard -- the chase, thus, was little more than an extended net for the Proteas.

The win puts Pollock and his men into the semifinals, where they meet India on Friday. But before that, there is tomorrow's first semifinal -- Pakistan versus New Zealand.

And tell you what, after five dud games out of six, I'll settle for a great contest, never mind which way the result goes.

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