Moments of glee

Glee is ugly. It is not good manners. A gentleman and those thus aspiring do not indulge in it. Yet, tonight I cannot help but oozing a gentle doze of glee from a few pores over the results of the Super 8 cricket match played in Barbados today.

South Africa entered the match still reeling from the battering New Zealand had dealt that wobbly team last Saturday. In a make-or-break attempt though, the Proteas obliterated England's side and with that her chances of reaching the semi-finals of Cricket World Cup 2007.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, England started slowly, making their first run only by the third over. Although there were moments when it seemed that they might still put up a defensible score, the South African bowlers restricted the English side to 115 for 5 after 34 overs. Yet, worse was to come. In the 34th over South Africa's Andrew Hall went ballistic, taking four wickets from 9 balls. England crumbled in dismal defeat and was all out soon after for 154 in 48 overs.

After lunch South Africa went to the stumps chasing a relatively easy 154 in 50 overs - an attainable run-rate of 3.0 runs per over. The opening pair of AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith (captain) seemed set for a field day by scoring their first run off the third ball. Between them, they hit 21 fours before De Villiers was caught by Nixon off a ball from Flintoff. On came Jacques Kallis, a solid bulwark of the South African side. The writing for England was well and truly on the wall. By the 20th over it was all over as South Africa sailed past the English score with 157 after 19.2 overs.

Here is the clincher: South Africa won by 9 wickets. I'll leave the rest to the British press, which is still having a feeding frenzy at this moment.