Quinton de Kock made a fluent fifty and South Africa bowlers responded bravely to the challenge of defending a sub-par total as South Africa thwarted a late England surge to eke out a seven-run win in their Group 2 Super Eight match in the T20 World Cup, here on Friday.

England had done well to keep South Africa to 163/6 despite De Kock's 38-ball 65, but lost their way despite a spirited fightback from Harry Brook (53) and Liam Livingstone (33). They eventually finished at 156 for six.

Brook and Livingstone did extremely well to stage a fightback to bring England back into the game but South Africa held their nerves, despite making plenty of errors, to keep their winning run in this World Cup intact.

England were still significantly far from target needing 46 runs to win from the final four overs but Ottneil Baartman sent down plenty of full-tosses as 21 runs were knocked off in the 17th over. But Kagiso Rabada (2/32) stamped his class as he had Livingstone (33 off 17b, 3x4s, 2x6s) caught at deep backward square leg in the 18th over.

Brief scores: South Africa 163/6 in 20 overs (Q. de Kock 65, D. Miller 43; A. Rashid 1/23, J. Archer 3/40); England 156/6 in 20 overs (H. Brook 53, L. Livingstone 33; K. Maharaj 2/25, K. Rabada 2/32). South Africa won by 7 runs.