England progressed to the ICC Champions Trophy final for the second time after taking full advantage of a poor batting display from South Africa which saw them accumulate a lackluster 175/10, giving England, whose batsmen were already on fine form, the chance to get their ticket to the final on Sunday.
England won the toss on a dreary morning at the Oval and chose to bowl first and got off to the perfect start dismissing Colin Ingram for a duck off only 5 balls, this good start was just about to get better. Hashim Amla then went for an LBW off only 3 balls and scoring only one run, England were no doubt in control.
However, South Africa weren't going to roll over and have their bellies itched that easily, in came Robin Peterson to restore some hope for the Proteas. Peterson was accompanied by Du Plessis and together they put together a steady 50 run partnership. However this was a semi final and looking at England's batting performances so far, the Proteas run rate wasn't high enough.
Peterson was dismissed for 30 off 41 but Du Plessis off 39 balls could only score 26 runs giving England an easy target so far.
Furthermore Proteas captain De Villiers went for a duck as well after another fine catch from England's wicket keeper Jos Butler but David Miller gave South Africa some hope with his half century followed by Kleinveldt's 43 runs off 61 balls.
But the wicket of Kleinveldt upped England's game, Broad successfully taking two wickets in a row to dismiss Tsotsobe and give themselves a target of 176 for the win.
Although seeming an easy target Captain Cook didn't help the case when he was caught by De Villiers off Christopher Morris's bowling. However England were never too worried. Trott came in at number three and gave stability to England's batting, he went on to score 82 off 84 and drew England closer to their second final of the ICC.
Ian Bell's dismissal gave Joe Root the chance for everybody to witness his fine batting, producing 7 fours on his way to his half century but was denied of it when Jean-Paul Duminy bowled him out.
Bur for England it was a matter of when and Eoin Morgan came in and polished off the dust on the ICC Trophy, himself and Trott reached the target with over 12 overs to spare and sent England into the final bringing back to the surface the "choker" tag that has been marked on South Africa in this tournament.
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