England sealed a place in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 with the easiest of seven-wicket wins over South Africa, who again choked when it came to the big occasion.
Asked to bat first, South Africa, with the "chokers" albatross hanging around their shoulders, had a disastrous outing, slumping to 80 for eight, before a 95-run partnership between David Miller (56 not out) and Rory Kleinveldt (43) pushed the total to at least 175 all out.
James Anderson (two for 14) did the early damage, before man of the match James Tredwell (three for 19) knocked down the middle order with a wonderful spell.
England made the target look as easy as it was, cruising home in 37.3 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 82 (84b, 11x4) from Jonathan Trott.
South Africa coach Gary Kirsten admitted South Africa had choked yet again in a major semifinal. "I think it has happened again to be honest with ourselves," he said. "I think we did choke again.
"At the end of the day, it's a word that we've become comfortable with. It's an uncomfortable word that we've become comfortable with, and you have to accept that that's what it is.
"It's a horrible word. It does get used. We've spoken about it. We've been up front about it as a team. We certainly let you are ourselves down today (Wednesday), no doubt."
England skipper Alastair Cook believes winning the toss was a big advantage, with the ball moving around quite a bit in the early stages.
"Obviously if we had said we'd win by seven wickets by 5:00 o'clock today as we walked to the grounds, obviously, we would have almost laughed at you," he said. "But clearly it was a good toss to win, adjusted enough and it swung, first on the white ball.
"It swung conventionally in this tournament. Probably down to the muggy conditions. It's obviously, quite warm out there.
"When it does swing like that, there is no bowler in the world you'd want other than Jimmy bowling with it. He was outstanding, and the other guys backed him up.
"(Steven Finn) Finny had a crucial wicket of (Hashim) Amla, and we knew how important that was. And, obviously, Tricky Tredders as well bowling very well."
England have never won a major 50-over tournament, but Cook is confident this could be their year to break the duck.
"It would be a massive achievement," he added. "It's very hard to do. It's taken a long time to get to the finals. We got to the finals in 2004 and couldn't quite get over the line. I hope this time we can get one better.
"I think everyone loves this tournament. The fact that every game has meant so much. Every game has been against high quality opposition, and you've had to be on your A game to win it, if you're not, you lose.
"I think all the other sides would say that. To be through with the quality opposition we've played, I think that's a good achievement and hopefully it won't stop there."
