Anderson leads rout of SA

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PORT ELIZABETH, Nov 30 (Cricinfo): South Africa's batsmen veered from the sublime to the ridiculous in the space of three days, as England demonstrated the staggering extent of their inconsistency in one-day cricket by following one of their heaviest thumpings with arguably their most dominant display of the year.
Led by James Anderson, who overcame a knee complaint to produce the first five-wicket haul of his one-day career, England routed South Africa for 119, their lowest-ever total in a home ODI, before knocking off the required runs in 31.2 overs and for the loss of three wickets. In so doing, they claimed a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, and ensured at least a share of the spoils with the final match coming up in Durban next Friday.
Even by England's recent rollercoaster standards, this was quite a turnaround in fortunes. At Newlands Friday, they had lost a vital toss in perfect batting conditions at Newlands, and looked on helplessly as South Africa rampaged to 354 for 6, the highest total in 43 matches between the countries.
At St George's Park this morning, however, their lack of balance in the absence of Jacques Kallis was ruthlessly exposed.
Graeme Smith was very content to bat first after winning the toss once again, but Andrew Strauss admitted he had been tempted to bowl anyway, on a grassy pitch and under some appreciable cloud-cover. Sure enough, his seam bowlers, led by Anderson, made full use of the conditions.
As is so often the case, the early scalp of Smith was to prove critical to the momentum of both sides. After serving up a first-ball wide, Stuart Broad found a fuller length with his second legitimate delivery, and trapped Smith lbw for 2 as he fell across his stumps.
Though Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers were subsequently served up a range of short balls to get their respective innings up and running, the need to pitch the ball up was soon drummed into the bowlers, with devastating effect.
England 121 for 3 (Trott 52*) beat South Africa 119 (Petersen 51, Anderson 5-23) by seven wickets.