BRIDGETOWN (Barbados), April 18: South Africa rode on Andrew Hall’s maiden five-wicket burst to storm into the World Cup semi-finals with an emphatic nine-wicket win which humiliated England here on Tuesday (also partially reported in Wednesday’s edition).

The paceman finished with 5-18 off 10 economical overs as South Africa dismissed England for a paltry 154 before racing to the target with more than 30 overs to spare in what was a must-win Super Eights match for both teams.

South Africa made a mockery of the England total, with skipper Graeme Smith (89 not out) and A.B. de Villiers (42) putting on 85 for the opening wicket off just 59 balls in a one-sided contest.

The victory also ended the West Indies' slim chances of advancing in the tournament as South Africa (eight points) now joined defending champions Australia (12), New Zealand (10) and Sri Lanka (8) in the semi-finals.

England, who have beaten only debutants Ireland and Bangladesh in the second round, remained on four points with just one game to go against the hosts, who have two points from five matches.

England virtually went out of the game after a dismal batting performance against a sharp South African attack on a Kensington Oval pitch having both pace and bounce.

Fast bowler Andre Nel (3-35) was the first to rock England when he bagged two key wickets in his fiery opening spell, getting rid of struggling skipper Michael Vaughan and in-form Kevin Pietersen.

England's batting hardly looked convincing against pace as none of their batsman could reach a half-century. Andrew Strauss (46), Paul Collingwood (30) and Ravi Bopara (27 not out) batted defiantly, but it was just not good enough.

They lost their last seven wickets for a meagre 43 runs, much to the disappointment of their supporters.

In contrast, South Africa's batting bloomed right from the beginning as de Villiers and Smith put England to the sword with their aggressive knocks.

De Villiers hit eight fours in his brisk 35-ball knock.

Smith smashed 13 fours in his 58-ball innings, his fifth half-century in the ongoing tournament.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

I.R. Bell c Prince b Langeveldt 7

M.P. Vaughan lbw b Nel 17

A.J. Strauss c Smith b Kallis 46

K.P. Pietersen c Smith b Nel 3

P.D. Collingwood lbw b Hall 30

A. Flintoff b Hall 5

R.S. Bopara not out 27

P.A. Nixon c Boucher b Hall 1

S.I. Mahmood b Hall 0

M.S. Panesar c Boucher b Nel 2

J.M. Anderson lbw b Hall 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-5, NB-3) 16

TOTAL (all out, 48 overs) 154

FALL OF WKTS: 1-9 (Bell, 7.3 ov), 2-37 (Vaughan, 12.2 ov), 3-53 (Pietersen, 16.2 ov), 4-111 (Strauss, 32.4 ov), 5-115 (Collingwood, 33.5 ov), 6-119 (Flintoff, 35.1 ov), 7-121 (Nixon, 35.6 ov), 8-121 (Mahmood, 37.1 ov), 9-144 (Panesar, 44.3 ov).

BOWLING: Pollock 10-2-17-0 (1nb); Langeveldt 7-1-38-1; Nel 10-3-35-3 (2nb, 4w); Hall 10-2-18-5; Kallis 8-0-22-1; Kemp 3-0-16-0 (1w).

SOUTH AFRICA:

A.B. de Villiers c Nixon b Flintoff 42

G.C. Smith not out 89

J.H. Kallis not out 17

EXTRAS (B-4, W-3, NB-2) 9

TOTAL (for one wkt, 19.2 overs) 157

FALL OF WKT: 1-85 (de Villiers, 9.5 ov).

DID NOT BAT: H.H. Gibbs, A.G. Prince, M.V. Boucher, J.M. Kemp, S.M. Pollock, A.J. Hall, A. Nel, C.K. Langeveldt.

BOWLING: Anderson 5-0-32-0 (1w); Mahmood 4.2-0-49-0 (1nb); Flintoff 6-0-36-1 (1nb, 1w); Panesar 2-0-24-0; Collingwood 2-0-12-0.

RESULT: South Africa won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: S.A. Bucknor (West Indies) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Andrew Hall.—Agencies