England crushed South Africa by 39 runs in their semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup at Kensington Oval here on Saturday.

England 168-7 (Pietersen 53, Botha 2-15) beat South Africa 129 (Sidebottom 3-23, Swann 3-24) by 39 runs

Man of the Match :Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen started off with an impressive innings as he produces 53 runs to sum the total of 168 for seven.

Though, South Africa could not manage to overcome England because spinners Graeme Swann took (3-24) and Michael Yardy (2-31)   and restricted South Africa for 129.

In partnership with Kevin Pietersen 53 off 33 balls, opener Craig Kieswetter took 41, as Michel Lumb were left soon which made them to secure a  94 in just over ten overs at a rate nine runs per over.

“When you see the lads going out to bat with that kind of intent, it’s really exciting. Our line-up has got a lot of potential,” said Captain Paul Collingwood.

After Kieswetter moves out with two overs later for 41, England lost their momentum and was at stake to defeat the game but the score is enough to reach the target. Eventually, they lead the game with a super innings as against South Africa.

While Pietersen, who managed to take up a simple catch at mid-on to get rid of Kallis off the bowling of Stuart Broad and then Yardy picked up the prize wicket of Herschelle Gibbs — Ryan Sidebottom making a fine catch at short leg.

“They were far better than us today,” said Smith.

“We fought back well, but our first 10 overs were poor. Consistency has been our problem of late in the shorter form of the game,” he said.

“It is nice to be back in form again. It is great to be part of a team that is doing very well. I have had a real rough 12-14 months so its nice to be back in form. It was a wonderful wicket to bat on. I am flying back to London in the next 24 hours to attend to my wife.” Says Pietersen

“There were a lot of England people in today and we wanted to put in a good performance. When you see the guys go out with intent, its exciting. The guys are hitting the ball well and the line-up has potential. We tried to set targets, the boys are backing themselves and that is important. We have really worked hard in the past few years in certain aspects of the game. The bowlers are learning new skills all the time.” Says Collingwood

“Credit to England in the first 10 overs. We made a lot of mistakes, including basic mistakes. It was very disappointing, I thought we had restricted them after 10 covers. Consistency is the challenge in the short form of the game and we were inconsistent today. Spinners have not been successful in this game and we fell into the trap. We were talking about the rate and we did not do that. We can only hope that we can bounce back quickly.” Says Smith