England vs South Africa, 1st Semi-Final at London, , Jun 19 2013 - Ball by Ball Commentary

In fact before I go, there's time to tell you that Tim Bresnan is now a father! His wife has given birth to Max Geoffrey Bresnan. Congratulations to the Bresnan's.

So there we have it, England, as many expected in all fairnace, are in the final of the Champions Trophy and go into Sunday's final with great confidence. They will take on India or Sri Lanka who contest tomorrow's second semi-final in Cardiff, which gets underway at 10.30am BST, so tune in then for all the best live coverage. And I'll be back for the final on Sunday at the same hour. My thanks to Monty for today, but from me, Alex Winter, it's goodbye, see you Sunday...

Presentation time: "The toss wasn't that important," AB de Villiers says. "It didn't really do that much but England got their plans spot on. Under pressure from the word go, we just weren't good enough.

"It was the hardest team selection I've had. Alviro would have been great in the team but we backed Hashim and Colin. I'm especially proud of David Miller and Rory, they kept fighting to the end and that's what I expect from our guys.

"We tried everything with the ball but it got pretty flat in the afternoon. There's no excuses. We had the talent to win this tournament. We just didn't play well enough."

Winning captain Alastair Cook: "That's the performance you want in a semi-final. Jimmy was outstanding which was fantastic. The other guys back him up, especially tricky Tredders. To win any tournament you need everyone to fire and we've got that so far."

Man of the Match goes to "tricky Tredders" James Tredwell for his three wickets.

South Africa have lost yet again in a semi-final and this time it was their batsman that let them down badly. They failed to deal with the new swinging balls and then lost cheap wickets to put themselves out of the game before they had a chance to get into it. James Anderson was at his brilliant best and James Tredwell was excellent again. The only proper application came from David Miller and Rory Kleinveldt but then it was too late and they merely served to save complete humiliation.

That is a thumping, England dominant and have won by seven wickets and qualify for Sunday's final. The damage was done with the ball but a small chase can be tricky, not with Jonathan Trott at the crease it isn't. He's been his usual steady-Eddy best and timed the ball as good as I have seen today, he was superb and has led his side home in fine fashion. There was a mini-scare when Alastair Cook fell cheaply and Ian Bell went with less than a quarter of the target overcome but Trott and Joe Root got together in a partnership of 105 to pick off South Africa, Root again showing great maturity in such a calm innings.

So a brief scare but England have, as expected, cruised it, the last rites...

Ben: "Pietersen would definitely come in for Bell - he performed really well at the top of the order in the UAE last year and Bell's struggled recently. Morgan is our most dangerous striker." But Morgan hasn't struck it recently, Trent Bridge is his only knock since he came back from the IPL...Morris back with nine to win...

Powerplay now...

Tomis: "Some people asking who Kevin Pietersen comes in for in this England side. Maybe Ian Bell, maybe Eoin Morgan. errr he comes in for Bopara. One score and some part time mediums won't save Bopara." I dunno, his late order hitting has proved effective and his wobblers are very handy indeed, balances the side well...