\n<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s fielding was superb \u2013 Lungi Ngidi athletically catching Jamie Overton while running back from mid-on \u2013 but a frazzled England were inept in their decision-making.<\/p>\n
The worst dismissal was that of Liam Livingstone, who charged spinner Keshav Maharaj, attempted a hack to leg, missed and was stumped for nine.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n