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England were unable to rouse themselves for Jos Buttler’s swansong as white-ball captain as they were all out for 179 in 38.2 overs in their Champions Trophy dead rubber against South Africa.
Buttler announced on the eve of this Karachi clash he would step down from his position after back-to-back Group B defeats to old rivals Australia and Afghanistan meant an early elimination for England.
While those losses were close, this could be anything but after a limp batting display and they face the ignominy of exiting a major tournament at the group stage without a win for the first time.
Marco Jansen set the hares running with three powerplay wickets and then took a tremendous running catch to see off Harry Brook, touted to replace Buttler but out for 19 off 29 balls here.
Buttler himself made an uninspiring 21 off 43 balls, with no boundaries, in an innings where he was batting with the bowlers for much of his stay, putting on 42 with Jofra Archer, who made 25.
England’s paltry total guarantees South Africa’s passage through to the semi-finals as no margin of defeat would be enough for Afghanistan, currently level on three points with the Proteas, to leapfrog them on net run-rate.
Despite winning the toss, England found themselves in the familiar position of being two down early on as Phil Salt and Jamie Smith miscued pulls to Jansen, who snared Duckett’s leading edge for 24.
Duckett had been busy and was particularly punishing with anything on his pads but swished his bat in the air after offering Jansen the simplest of return catches as England lurched to 37 for three.
Joe Root was dropped on three after slashing to backward point and looked set to make South Africa pay, thumping Wiaan Mulder for a six over deep midwicket as he put on a restorative 62 with Brook.
The Yorkshire pair found boundaries easy to come by, with Brook dispatching the dangerous Kagiso Rabada for back-to-back fours that whistled through the covers.
But, attempting a booming swipe off Keshav Maharaj, the ball hung in the air just long enough for Jansen to run 30 metres to get round and complete a sensational catch in the deep.
Root missed a straight one and was bowled for 37 by Mulder, while Liam Livingstone charged at Maharaj and missed an ill-judged swipe for nine off 15 balls.
Buttler and Archer showed some of the restraint those higher up had badly lacked, but both offered catches to fielders in the ring without managing to land much of a glove on South Africa.
Buttler was the penultimate man out after directing a Lungi Ngidi slower ball to mid-on before Adil Rashid feathered through to wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen.
