Durban - England have defeated South Africa by six runs in a group B match despite their dismal batting performance.
England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss at the M A Chidambaram Stadium and elected to bat.
The English only managed to make 171 runs in their allotted overs with some great bowling from the South African bowlers.
England found themselves in serious trouble at 3-15 when Robin Peterson offered an excellent first four-over spell.
Peterson damaged the English top order by claiming the wicket off Strauss for a duck and Kevin Pietersen for two runs.
Peterson then caught out Ian Bell off his own bowling to claim his third victim.
Jonathan Trott (52) and Ravi Bopara (60) both making half centuries, cemented the English scorecard.
England though never fully recovered and went on to lose their last five wickets for just 23 runs.
But England who last Sunday pulled out all stops to draw against India last week in a nail biting clash, produced anther spirited fight to now top group B.
Hashim Alma (42) and Graeme Smith (22) got off to a decent start with other noticeable performance coming from Dale Steyn who produced a solid 20-run knock.
Stuart Broad claimed four South African wickets for 15 runs - he dismissed Alma, Jacques Kallis (15), Steyn (20) and Morne Morkel for one.
South Africa find themselves in third place with four points in group B.
The Proteas will next meet India in Nagpur on 12 March in a demanding encounter. - BuaNews
