England vs South Africa, Live Cricket Score

After their disappointing campaign in the just-concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2017, South Africa face a chance of redemption against England in a three-match T20 International series. The Proteas captain AB de Villiers, who has been scrutinized for his performance with the bat, sees the series against England as an opportunity for the South African side.

After winning the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998, South Africa are yet to clinch their second ICC one-day title. Despite having top ODI players like Hashim Amla, Kagiso Rabada, Faf du Plessis and De Villiers, South Africa could only manage to register a win against Sri Lanka in their group games.

“It was a tough few days after the Champions Trophy, to go through that phase of reflecting and to hear some of the criticism. It’s never easy but I have always been the kind of guy to see the positive in that and see an opportunity to improve. These three matches give me that opportunity as a player and as a captain for the team,” de Villiers told ahead of the three-match series opener in Southampton.

De Villiers has had a lean run but he insists that he is in good touch and simply was a victim of poor luck. In three matches, the right-handed batsman could only manage 20 runs.

“I don’t feel like I need to prove anyone wrong or prove something to someone. I just want to go play,” he said.

Before coming into the Champions Trophy, South Africa had suffered a 2-1 loss to England in a three-match ODI series.

“I feel like a youngster starting my career again. I am really full of energy and love playing. I just want to score some runs again and captain the team to a few good wins. I feel like I am playing very well. There’s nothing wrong with my form. The results are not showing,” he concluded.

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, Highlights, ICC Champions Trophy News

Pakistan got off to a great start in the run chase as Fakhar Zaman (50) came out all guns blazing and he along with Azhar Ali (34) added 74 runs for the first wicket. But the former World Champions lost wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs that got Sri Lanka right back in the match. Just when the match was swinging towards Sri Lanka, Sarfraz Ahmed (61*) played a captain's knock to help Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 3 wickets. Sri Lanka's fielding disintegrated in the last 45 minutes as they dropped a couple of chances and Pakistan rode on their luck to get home after being reduced to 162 for 7 at one stage. For Sri Lanka Nuwan Pradeep was the pick of the bowlers, returning with figures of 3 for 60 in his 10 overs. Earlier, Pakistan bundled out Sri Lanka for 236 with Junaid Khan and Hasan Ali picking up three wickets apiece.


Pakistan have little more than 36 hours before taking the field again in Cardiff for their Champions Trophy semi-final against England, but will find time to address concerns about their middle order despite the joy of overcoming Sri Lanka to progress to the knockout stage.

Fakhar Zaman's explosive entrance to the one-day side, with innings of 31 off 23 balls against South Africa followed by his 35-ball 50 against Sri Lanka, has helped overcome the sluggish starts which have plagued their batting, but there were a series of loose dismissals in the chase which left them needing a rescue mission of dramatic proportions from captain Sarfraz Ahmed and Mohammad Amir in an unbroken stand of 75 in 15 overs.

"If you look at the game we started well but after Fakhar Zaman got out we lost the momentum and then most of our dismissals were soft which definitely is an area of concern for us," Sarfraz said. "We will sit tomorrow and talk about this and hopefully we will recover from this.

"After the way we started we could have finished this game with six or seven wickets in hand but those dismissals really dented us. We should have won by a good margin but a win is a win. Yes, we need to sit and talk about it and realise that if we a settled that we should take the game to the end rather than leaving it for the upcoming batsmen."

On his own innings, an unbeaten 61 off 79 balls, he admitted things went his way especially with the first dropped catch by Thisara Perera but was delighted to see the chase through. "I played the shot in the air, I just said, ooh...as a captain, it's very important innings for me. After this innings, I'm really boosted."

Before the tournament, Sarfraz spoke about how the team's No. 8 ODI ranking meant there were no expectations on them - which looked justified after the woeful performance against India, who they have a chance of meeting again in the final - but now they have a semi-final berth he sounded a little more bullish.

"Indeed it was very important for us as a team. Obviously nobody was rating us and they were writing us off, but once again I give all the credit to the team management for boosting us after the India game, especially our bowlers. The way Junaid [Khan] and Amir bowled was a turning point. I hope we can carry the momentum ahead and take a lot of confidence."

Sarfraz also promised his side would play "positive" cricket against England, the side they conceded the world record ODI total of 444 for 3 against at Trent Bridge last year. That one-day series ended in a 4-1 drubbing but the lone Pakistan victory did come in Cardiff as they chased down 303 in which Sarfraz made 90.

"We chased down 300-plus runs and that is a good memory," he said. "We have to play positive cricket as England have been playing positive cricket in the last two years. Obviously we have to play hard and we will try to replicate our last year performance to win them again in Cardiff. If you're playing a world class team you play more positive cricket. So will definitely do that against England."

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India vs South Africa, Where to Watch Live Score Star Sports

Mumbai: Big guns and title favorites India and South Africa will face each other in a knockout clash of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Having suffered defeats in their previous matches, India and South Africa face a do-or-die battle in their quest for a semi-final spot when they meet in a Group B contest at The Oval on Sunday. India suffered an unexpected seven-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in their last group match while Pakistan got the better of South Africa via the Duckworth-Lewis method. Virat Kohli and his men got a reality check against Sri Lanka and will now look to iron out their concerns in the bowling department. India's batting has done well in the tournament so far but it was their bowling which flopped against Sri Lanka. For South Africa, neither their batting not bowling looked to have clicked after a 19-run defeat against Pakistan. The Proteas will look to heavily improvise in both the departments to give their side any chance of a win against India.

Discord and defeat, or amity and victory? Which way will perceptions sway after the virtual quarterfinal against South Africa?
Indian cricket's English summer has been a tumultuous one so far, but Sunday's knockout game also provides Virat Kohli's men a chance to maintain their excellent record in do-or-die situations.
In the past four years, India have won three out of four knockout games, the lone blip coming against the Australians in Sydney in the 2015 World Cup semifinal. Two out of those three victories came in the last Champions Trophy, a tournament in which India have a spotless 3-0 record against South Africa.
So the Indians in recent times have inspired plenty of confidence in pressure situations, better than the South Africans anyway, whose reputation as perennial chokers seems to have dogged them for an eternity.
This time, though, that tiny psychological edge may not be cushion enough: South Africa are the world's No. 1 ODI side. Since the loss to Bangladesh in July 2015, they have won 7 out of 9 ODI series, including beating India in India. Conditions at the Oval are likely to suit them more. They have a settled lineup. On current form, the only opponent more formidable than South Africa would be England on home soil.

Having landed themselves in a mess following the disclosure of differences between Kohli and coach Anil Kumble, and also coming off a shock loss to Sri Lanka, India need to win this one to reaffirm a bit of faith. "You need to have a good balance of being competitive, being passionate, but at the same time not getting overexcited," said Kohli about India's approach to knockout games. Tactical superiority wouldn't hurt either, and to that end India seem to be turning to the card they missed in the Sri Lanka game: Ravichandran Ashwin.

Ashwin has only sporadically been part of India's ODI setup, having played only 9 and missed 18 games since the 2015 World Cup. His economy rate in this period has been marginally higher, 5.55, than his career average of 4.91. However, he also has 12 wickets from those 9 games, and India sorely missed a wicket-taker against the Lankans.

The offie came into the tournament proclaiming a new weapon he had worked on, but has only been allowed to watch from the sidelines so far. On match eve, he was made to bowl for nearly two hours, meaning India had taken cognizance of the three left-handers in the SA lineup - De Kock, David Miller, and JP Duminy.

Will Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who didn't have much of a bowl in the nets, set out to enable India to play two spinners in Ashwin and Jadeja and two pacers in Yadav and Bumrah? Kohli, true to tradition, was suitably cryptic, saying, "Yes, there are all kinds of possibilities. We definitely have looked at the last game and where we can make a bit of a change."

That "last game" saw India losing out in spite of posting 321 on the board, and South Africa have one of the most dangerous batting lineups around, even though they may have imploded against Imad Wasim and Co in the game against Pakistan. "The temptation is definitely there to change the XI. We have 15 world-class players in the side," said captain AB de Villiers, adding: "We also expect to see Ashwin on their side. He's taken many wickets against us."

AB too agreed it was important to "stay calm". "Don't get overexcited, the tendency will be there. We all live for these kinds of moments. I'm expecting intensity and hunger but with a relaxed kind of mindset."

If that sounds contradictory, Kohli wouldn't know. "The team that treats the game as normal as possible will win," he said.

The question is, is it possible to stay normal with everything on the line?

Squads of India and South Africa for ICC Champions Trophy 2017:

INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli(Captain), MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Umesh Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami

SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD: AB de Villiers (Captain), Jean-Paul Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Chris Morris, David Miller, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Hashim Amla, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Morne Morkel.

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Upul Tharanga suspended for two matches after four-hour innings

Sri Lanka's stand-in captain Upul Tharanga has been suspended for his team's next two matches in the Champions Trophy because of a "serious" over-rate offence in their first group B match against South Africa at The Oval.

Sri Lanka took more than four hours to bowl 50 overs, and match referee David Boon ruled they were short of the target by four overs, even after making time allowances. Tharanga had been filling in as captain for Angelo Mathews, who did not make it through a fitness test on the morning of the match, and received two suspension points for the slow over rate.

"Tharanga pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing," the ICC said. "As two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player, Tharanga has been suspended from his side's upcoming matches against India and Pakistan, while each of his players have received a fine of 60 per cent."

Tharanga admitted he had been warned on-field that Sri Lanka were falling well behind the over-rate. "I think we were too slow to change over between overs. The umpires had told us that we were lagging, after 10 overs that we were two overs behind. In the last few overs it's hard to catch up, because you need some time at the death. "

He was Sri Lanka's top scorer against South Africa, making 57 off 69 balls as they fell short by 96 runs in the chase of 300. His suspension now makes it even more imperative that Mathews is fit to face India at The Oval on June 8 as Sri Lanka aim to keep their tournament alive.

Speaking before the sanction against Tharanga was confirmed, Dinesh Chandimal, who would be the likely captain if Mathews wasn't fit, said he had been close to make the opening match.

"He just missed this game, but the thing is you can't risk playing the first game and making it worst," he said. "He's got four or five days before the next game to get ready."

Tahir, Amla lead rout of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka had lost five ODIs to South Africa already this year but had hoped that months later, playing for a different trophy, they could apply the lessons learned during that walloping. It wasn't to be. The gulf in quality between these teams was borne out by the margin of South Africa's victory: 96 runs.

In fact, South Africa may reflect that despite Hashim Amla's velvet 103 from 115 balls, and Faf du Plessis' efficient 75, they were not quite explosive enough during the death.

They had begun indifferently with the ball too, allowing a pugnacious Niroshan Dickwella to unsettle them in the Powerplay, but soon, the middle-overs mastery of Imran Tahir took the grip, and Sri Lanka's chase of 300 lays all but scuttled, as they slumped to 155 for 6 in the 30th over. In wiping the remainder of Sri Lanka's innings out in clinical fashion, South Africa have confirmed, if there was any doubt, that they are serious contenders for the trophy. Tahir's final figures were 4 for 27, but his effect on the match was even more substantial than those numbers laid out.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, for whom it is now a compliment that only one important catch was dropped, gleaned only minor personal positives from the match. Dickwella set the chase off to a roaring start, Upul Tharanga contributed a half-decent fifty, Kusal Perera stood firm at one end while the lower order crashed around him, and Nuwan Pradeep showcased a slowly burgeoning range of skills with the ball. But these are not the kinds of performances that win matches.

The defining periods of play were the middle overs in each innings: having picked the less-aggressive spin option in Seekkuge Prasanna, Sri Lanka allowed Amla and du Plessis to prosper too easily during those overs, and with the bat, lost five wickets for 66 runs from overs 11 to 30.

For Amla, who had set South Africa on course for 299 - an imposing score, given the slightly slow nature of the surface - this innings may not rank as one of his best, but it did get him to the milestone of 25 ODI hundreds in 11 fewer innings than any previous batsman had managed it. He now also sits alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara and Ricky Ponting to have 25 hundred in both Tests and ODIs.

He was cautious, to begin with, as Sri Lanka delivered some exceptionally tight overs. Initially, he hovered in the crease, dabbing and squeezing his way into the innings. Not until the penultimate ball of the first Powerplay did he venture a boundary: a flick off Pradeep over the leg side. He made only 26 off the first 40 balls he faced.

But following the departure of Quinton de Kock, who nicked off to Pradeep, Amla played with more ambition. There was a six over long-off, off Asela Gunaratne, in the 19th over, and in the 24th he slunk down the pitch to send Seekkuge Prasanna sailing over the deep midwicket fence. In between those two shots, he had reached fifty, and suddenly, was scoring at close to a run a ball.

His partnership with du Plessis was the most fruitful of the innings, and the pair hauled South Africa to a position of strength with their quickening 145-run stand. Amla, having provided the innings its thrust during the overs when du Plessis was feeling his way into the game, allowed his partner to make the riskier plays during the middle overs, saving for himself the role of turning the strike over. In fact, between the 24th and 43rd over - when he got out - he hit only one boundary. South Africa scored only 78 runs in the last 10 overs, thanks again to some tight bowling by Pradeep, with support from Lasith Malinga and Suranga Lakmal. Of those runs, JP Duminy contributed 38 in the space of 20 deliveries.

Sri Lanka will particularly rule the rate at which their innings crashed and burned because, by the end of the first Powerplay, they had scored 55 more runs than South Africa had managed at that stage of the innings. Dickwella led this charge, flitting about the crease to carve the quicks over the offside, then jumping across to leg to whip them over the leg, during his 33-ball 41. With Tharanga also batting confidently through those overs, it seemed inconceivable that Sri Lanka would not at least mount a muscular challenge to South Africa's total.

In the end, Tahir became their downfall, just as he had been during that bilateral series earlier in the year. Dinesh Chandimal got himself run-out trying to get off the strike in Tahir's first over, before Chamara Kapugedara was trapped in front by a googly three balls later. Tharanga then launched a ball into the hands of deep cover, and Asela Gunaratne squirted a catch to square leg, and pretty soon, a rapid start had turned into a procession of wickets. Perera stuck around for 66 balls and hit 44 unbeaten runs, but Sri Lanka were already out of contention for most of his stay. Tahir came back to take the final wicket, and Sri Lanka were all out in the 42nd over.

Cricket Australia announces Australia A squads for South Africa Tour

Usman Khawaja will captain Australia A's four-day team and Travis Head will lead the one-day side for a series of matches in South Africa in July and August. Glenn Maxwell, who scored his maiden Test century on the recent tour of India, will be vice-captain to Khawaja in the first-class games and will have the chance to push his case for retention in the Test side when Australia next play.

Moises Henriques was initially named in the one-day squad but the selectors later stated that the allrounder will continue his county stint with Surrey, instead of playing the tri-series.* CA said the selection panel had "considered both Henriques' experience along with future Australian tours in making this decision", and that a replacement player will be named in due course.

South Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey has been chosen in both squads after a remarkable summer in which he broke the record for most dismissals in a Shield season, while also scoring nearly 600 Shield runs. Queensland all-rounder Jack Wildermuth has also been named in both squads, his first call-up for Australia A, while New South Wales batsman Daniel Hughes has the chance to debut for Australia A in the one-day format.

The selectors decided against choosing the experienced batsmen Ed Cowan and George Bailey, who were two of the top three Shield run scorers last summer, as well as Cameron White, who topped the Ryobi Cup run tally. However, national selector Trevor Hohns said that while some senior players had missed out, it would "certainly not detract from their chances of representing Australia in the future".

Also absent from the squads were the opener Marcus Harris, who had a prolific Shield season for Victoria and finished fourth on the run tally with 808 runs, and the spinner Jon Holland, whose 50 Shield wickets placed him second only to swing bowler Chadd Sayers on the competition list. Ashton Agar and Mitch Swepson, both of whom toured India with the Test squad this year, were preferred as spin options in both formats.

"We have opted for a well-balanced squad featuring some experience blended with younger players, with an emphasis on building our depth for the future," Hohns said. "This is a great chance for these players to experience foreign conditions against quality international sides and really test their skills.

"With an upcoming Test Series in South Africa early next year it is also an opportunity to impress with their performances and put their names forward for consideration. Khawaja is a proven leader and has captained Australia A before, he will gel nicely with Glenn who recently had some captaincy experience in the IPL and we believe will respond well to this extra responsibility."

Australia A will play two four-day games against South Africa A from July 12 to 22, and then a one-day tri-series involving South Africa A and India A from July 26 to August 8.

Four-day squad Usman Khawaja (capt), Glenn Maxwell (vice-capt), Ashton Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Jackson Bird, Alex Carey (wk), Hilton Cartwright, Travis Head, Kurtis Patterson, Chadd Sayers, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain, Jack Wildermuth.

One-day squad Travis Head (capt), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Hilton Cartwright, Sam Heazlett, Daniel Hughes, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Swepson, Chris Tremain, Jack Wildermuth.

Australia A tour of South Africa
Four-day matches
12-15 July: Australia A v South Africa A, Tukkies
19-22 July: Australia A v South Africa A, Senwes Park

One-day tri-series
26 July: Australia A v India A, Tukkies
30 July: Australia A v South Africa A, Groenkloof
1 August: Australia A v India A, Tukkies
5 August: Australia A v South Africa A, Tukkies
8 August: Tri-Series Final, Tukkies

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