England’s slide to defeat began in the first over when Phil Salt, having crashed two fours, tamely top-edged a pull to mid-wicket for nine.
His tournament tally of 30 runs in three innings is six better than Jamie Smith’s, who ended with a three-ball duck as he departed in identical fashion to Salt.
There was to be no rebuild from Ben Duckett and Root this time. The former chipped a return catch to Marco Jansen, who dismissed the top three in taking 3-39, via a leading edge, while Root was bowled by seamer Wiaan Mulder.
In between, Harry Brook, many people’s favourite to take over from Buttler, offered too much air in attempting to clear mid-wicket and was brilliantly caught by the sprawling Jansen on the boundary.
South Africa’s fielding was superb – Lungi Ngidi athletically catching Jamie Overton while running back from mid-on – but a frazzled England were inept in their decision-making.
The worst dismissal was that of Liam Livingstone, who charged spinner Keshav Maharaj, attempted a hack to leg, missed and was stumped for nine.
Buttler’s final innings as captain ended in tame fashion as he looped Ngidi to mid-off. When Mulder nicked off Adil Rashid to finish with 3-25, England had been dismissed inside their allotted overs for the eighth time in 11 matches this year.
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