James Tredwell dismissed JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis in his successive overs to put England in commanding position. Tredwell struck again to claim his third wicket after dismissing Chris Morris.
South Africa got off to bad start as England pacers James Anderson and Steven Finn struck in successive overs to dismiss their openers.
Anderson and Finn complemented their skipper's Alastair Cook decision to bowl first as they removed Colin Ingram and Hashim Amla respectively to leave South Africa tottering at 4/2 in 1.4 overs.
South Africa suffered another blow when Anderson struck again to dismiss Robin Peterson. Peterson tried to revive jolted Proteas innings with his 41-ball 30 before being caught in front of the wicket.
Stuart Broad increased South Africa woes by removing skipper AB de Villiers for nought to leave them in spot of bother.
James Tredwell keeps his place in place of Graeme Swann yet again and Tim Bresnan is not playing.
Dale Steyn is still injured and is replaced by Rory Kleinveldt.
Both sides, aiming to end a frustrating wait for a major one-day title, are fortunate to make the last four in the eight-nation tournament, saved either by the weather or their rivals' bad luck.
South Africa sneaked a tie -- and gain a valuable point -- at Cardiff last week when rain forced the game to end with the West Indies on the exact Duckworth-Lewis par score of 190/6 in 26.1 overs.
If Keiron Pollard had not been dismissed off what turned out to be the last ball of the match, the West Indies would have won the game and qualified for the semifinals after being ahead of the D/L target at that stage.
England were lucky the weather favoured them in Cardiff on Sunday as the hosts squeezed out a 10-run win over New Zealand in a game reduced to 24-overs-a-side due to rain.
A washed-out match or a defeat would almost certainly have knocked England out of the race and lifted the Black Caps into the semifinals along with either Sri Lanka or Australia.
Eventually, England topped group A by virtue of a superior net run-rate over Sri Lanka, who drew level on four points following a 20-run win over defending champions Australia at The Oval on Monday.
Teams:
England: Alastair Cook (Capt.), Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, James Tredwell, Steven Finn.
South Africa: AB de Villiers (Capt.), Colin Ingram, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, Jean-Paul Duminy, David Miller, Ryan McLaren, Robin Peterson, Chris Morris, Rory Kleinveldt, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
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