“Very happy topping the group, we know how hard it is to get through,” Morgan said after the loss. Moeen Ali (37) and Dawid Malan (33) chipped in with breezy cameos to snuff out South Africa’s semi-final hopes but England could not maintain their unblemished group record and finished on 179-8. South Africa had to restrict England to 131 or fewer to make the semi-finals ahead of Australia, while scoring 87 was enough for Eoin Morgan’s team. They showed intent with the bat too and Rassie van der Dussen blasted an unbeaten 94 off 60 balls to propel them to 189-2, their highest score of the tournament. With Australia beating holders West Indies in the previous match of the day, South Africa needed a victory and a massive run-rate boost to make the last four. Kagiso Rabada’s final over hat-trick came too late for South Africa who lost out to Australia on net run-rate count after the three sides ended with eight points from five matches.
SHARJAH -Former champions England sailed into the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup despite their 10-run loss to South Africa on Saturday with Ashes rivals Australia also making the last four from Group I.
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