Familiar ghost comes back to give South Africa haunted look

THIS was a new-look, new-feel South Africa team.

THIS was a new-look, new-feel South Africa team.

Criticised in the past for an uptight approach, they came to The Oval all happy-clappy, relaxed enough to talk openly in the build-up of the concerns about their temperament in previous knockout games. Didn't matter: new line, same old story.

The first semi-final of the Champions Trophy was effectively done after an hour and a half, by which time South Africa's top order had been blown away, devastated by a combination of new-ball swing from James Anderson and, more tellingly, an array of self-inflicted wounds from batsmen who looked fazed by the task confronting them.

This was a good toss to win, make no mistake, the warmth of a muggy morning in London an early clue that there would be more swing with the new ball than at any other stage in this tournament.

Nevertheless, the conditions were not unmanageable, especially as Anderson, excellent in an opening seven-over spell that accounted for Colin Ingram and Robin Peterson, was operating on a level out on his own.

Anderson ended up taking only two wickets while the rest of South Africa's top order were complicit in their downfalls. South Africa's key players fell tamely: Hashim Amla, who had batted for what felt like a week here in a Test last year, could not pull his bat out of the way of a full-length ball from Steven Finn, and A.B. de Villiers did well to reach what would have been a wide from Stuart Broad to give the excellent Jos Buttler the second of his six catches.

South Africa's torment was best encapsulated by JP Duminy's innings. He spent a skittish 11 balls at the crease, during which he might have been dismissed three times. He was given out leg-before first ball to Broad, which was overturned on review, then should have been given out leg-before to James Tredwell, before finally chopping on to the off spinner. The crowd by this time could not be certain whether he was coming or going; Duminy looked confused too.

The recovery, such as it was, came from David Miller, who called for the batting powerplay and swung merrily, and Rory Kleinveldt, a replacement for Dale Steyn that highlighted not South Africa's strength in depth but their weakness. It would be easy to say that the pressure was off by this stage and that there was nothing to lose. And with South Africa in knockout matches that is exactly what will continue to be said.

England, looking more and more formidable, must now wait to see who they play in a final that hopefully will deliver more blood and thunder than we saw at The Oval.

Having spent some time, albeit briefly, at the top of the Test rankings, and having won the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean under Paul Collingwood, a first win in a 50-over tournament would put the seal on a cricketing renaissance across all formats of the game.

As for South Africa, another chance to lay an old ghost to rest went begging.

The Times