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Inspired England see off South Africa
Michael Vaughan finally hit form with a career-best 83 on Tuesday as England hammered South Africa by four wickets at Edgbaston.
Skipper Michael Vaughan finally hit form with a career-best 83 and shared a match-winning 100-run stand with allrounder Andrew Flintoff on Tuesday as England hammered South Africa by four wickets at Edgbaston.
After James Anderson had taken 4-38 to restrict the tourists to 198 for nine, England scored 199 for six to win with 11 overs to spare to boost confidence before Saturday's showdown in the final at Lord's.
Rikki Clarke, 37 runs, shared 64 runs with Vaughan, but the pair fell in quick succession just before the victory was clinched. A wide by Andrew Hall finished the match leaving Chris Read and Ashley Giles without scoring.
The win wrested the psychological advantage before Saturday's tri-series final. It was also England's second win over the Proteas following the six-wicket win at The Oval. In between, South Africa won at Old Trafford by seven wickets.
England clinically out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded South Africa in front of a capacity crowd of 20,000.
Vaughan led from the front with his first half century in 10 innings in a timely return to form and he crushed South Africa's hopes of taking control after England had slid to a 30 for three following a nervous start.
The home side lost openers Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki in the space of five balls at 11, and Anthony McGrath to Jacques Kallis' first ball.
But Vaughan was back to his brilliant best and crowned his 33rd innings for England with 15 fours off 115 balls. The innings made up for his disappointing form this summer. He quickly passed the unbeaten 36 in the washout against Zimbabwe at Headingley which remained his highest score in nine innings.
His trademark cover drives and the hook shots were played with abundance. The hooked four off fast bowler Makhaya Ntini to open scoring was the standout shot of the day.
He fell leg before wicket to Andrew Hall with England five runs short of victory without playing a shot.
Despite his new found form, Vaughan let Flintoff set the pace for the one-sided win.
Flintoff continued from where he left off in the 47 not out in the six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in Bristol on Sunday, and raced to his eighth half century off just 36 balls.
He hit a six and seven fours off 40 balls before hooking Ntini, 2-30, to Paul Adams at long leg.
South Africa suffered a blow with when Nicky Boje was carried off the field and taken to hospital for a precautionary X-ray after falling heavily on his ankle while trying to stop a shot. When South Africa batted, Flintoff removed skipper Graeme Smith (45) and then took three brilliant catches in another outstanding allround feat.
Earlier, England regrouped after Anderson was hit for 19 runs in the first over by Smith as South Africa crashed from 65 for one to 104 for seven.
But career-best knocks by Martin van Jaasveld (45) and Adams (33 not out), and a 71-run eighth-wicket partnership save face for the tourists.
Anderson was disappointing in his first two overs and so was the England bowling in general until the 20-year-old returned for his second spell.
Hit out of the attack after two overs that cost 24 runs, Anderson took three wickets without conceding a run in a nine-ball spell. He had taken just four wickets in his previous five matches in the series. But Tuesday he claimed his seventh four-wicket haul in a short 22-match career.
