CRICKETSOUTH AFRICA captain Graeme Smith apologised to the Trent Bridge crowd after his side were rolled over with embarrassing ease by Kevin Pietersen's rampant England.
A resounding, 10-wicket win in a match which lasted only 37.1 overs out of a possible 100 put Pietersen's side 2-0 up in the five-match one-day series and left Smith struggling for explanations.
His side completed an historic win in the Test series between the sides, but their dismal 83 all out - knocked off in under 15 overs by England openers Matthew Prior and Ian Bell - left him with no excuses.
"We can only apologise for a poor performance," Smith said. "People have paid good money to come to the ground and are rightly angry not to get a proper game.
"But we must give credit to England. We didn't apply ourselves and it starts rolling before you know it. Kevin and his team deserve victory.
"It's just not good enough on the field at the moment. We're not playing to the standard we know we are capable of.
"England are playing a dominant brand of cricket but for us this is a tough pill to swallow."
A triumphant Pietersen was delighted with the result but warned against complacency.
"Today was very special but we were a long way from finishing this series - games three, four and five are important. We need to get ourselves right and enjoy this evening because wins like this are very, very special.
"I'm not going to stand here and say this is the best team we've had and it's the start of great things, but if we keep training hard I'm sure we won't be too far wide of the mark."
Nottinghamshire seamer Stuart Broad took five for 23 in front on his home crowd to set up the win.
"Obviously I'm delighted," he said. "The bowlers put their hands up and to bowl them out for 80-odd was great, as was the way Belly and Matty knocked them off."
Scoreboard
England v South Africa - At Trent Bridge South Africa Innings
G Smith c Prior b Broad 9
H Gibbs c Prior b Broad 10
J Kallis c Shah b Broad 6
AB de Villiers lbw b Flintoff 5
J Duminy c Prior b Broad 8
M Boucher c Prior b Flintoff 10
J Botha c Prior b Broad 1
J Morkel c Prior b S J Harmison 6
A Nel c Wright b S J Harmison 13
D Steyn b Flintoff 6
M Ntini not out 0
Extras (lb1 w8) 9
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Total (23 overs) 83
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-25, 3-26, 4-36, 5-45, 6-50, 7-53, 8-68, 9-72.
Bowling: Anderson 5-0-26-0, Broad 10-3- 23-5, Flintoff 7-0-29-3, Harmison 1-0-4-2.
England Innings
I Bell not out 28
M Prior not out 45
Extras (lb6 w4 nb2) 12
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Total (0 wkts, 14.1 overs) 85
Did Not Bat: Shah, Pietersen, Flintoff, Collingwood, Patel, Wright, Broad, Anderson, Harmison.
Bowling: Steyn 6-1-37-0, Ntini 5-1-24-0, Nel 2.1-0-14-0, Kallis 1-0-4-0.
England beat South Africa by 10 wkts
