Sharjah: England suffered their first defeat in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup but still qualified for the semifinals on the basis of a better net run rate, knocking out victors South Africa from the tournament here on Saturday.
South African pacer Kagiso Rabada (3/48) produced a sensational final over to become the first from his country to bag a hat-trick in T20Is and help his side register a 10-run win, denying England an all-win record in the showpiece though it came too late in the day.
The Proteas, who had scored 189/2 after being sent in to bat, needed to restrict England to 131 to overtake Australia in net run rate and qualify for the semifinals but it was not to be.
England, Australia and South Africa ended on eight points each but the top two teams made it to the semifinals as they had better net run rate than South Africa (+0.739) who were knocked out. England (+2.464) topped Group 1 while Australia (+1.216), who beat West Indies earlier in the day, finished second.
England crossed the 131-run mark in the 16th over which sent South Africa out of the tournament but they needed 14 runs runs from the final over, which they could not achieve.
Rabada dismissed Chris Woakes (7), Eoin Morgan (17) and Chris Jordan (0) off successive balls in the final over for the third hat-trick of the tournament.
England suffered a big blow when opener Jason Roy was taken off the field, retired hurt on 20. He could barely complete a single off the first ball of the fifth over and later limped off.
Earlier, Rassie van der Dussen smashed an unbeaten 94 and Aiden Markram made 52 not out in a brilliant display of power hitting as they steered South Africa to 189/2.
Van der Dussen's 60-ball unbeaten knock had five fours and six sixes while Markram struck two boundaries and four maximums off 25 deliveries during his unconquered innings as the duo shared 103 runs for the unbroken third wicket.
The Proteas added 116 runs from the back-10, thanks to fireworks from van der Dussen and Markram.