CARDIFF (Wales), Sept 4: England were denied the chance to climb to second in the One-day International rankings when the fifth and final match of the series against South Africa was abandoned after only three overs on Wednesday.

Kevin Pietersen’s men were already four up in the series and a 5-0 whitewash would have lifted them from third to second in the world behind Australia.

South Africa was struggling on 6-1 after three overs when the players were forced to leave the field at Sophia Gardens, just minutes after play had started two hours late.

Stuart Broad had Herschelle Gibbs caught behind by Matt Prior with just his third ball to leave South Africa on 3-1 and the tourists added three further runs before the rain.

Repeated showers forced the umpires to abandon the game.

The tourists seemed to lose motivation after securing a win in the four-match Test series when they beat England by five wickets at Edgbaston in the third Test.

That victory clinched the first series win for the South Africans in England since 1965 and prompted Michael Vaughan’s resignation as England captain, but they were comfortably beaten by six wickets by new skipper Kevin Pietersen’s side in the final Test at The Oval, and their form in the one-day series was abject.

England, resurgent under Pietersen’s leadership, comfortably won the first ODI at Headingley by 20 runs, then humiliated South Africa at Nottingham, dismissing the tourists for just 83 runs and romping to a 10-wicket victory.

The third ODI at The Oval saw England record an equally emphatic 126-run win and although the tourists put in an improved display at Lord’s, England still beat them by seven wickets – a result that left them third in the International Cricket Council world rankings on 116 points, just two points behind the South Africans.

England go into their potentially lucrative tour to Antigua in buoyant mood. Pietersen’s side will play a winner-take-all game with the Stanford Superstars on Nov 1, with $20 million at stake.

South Africa, also ranked No 2 in the ICC’s Test rankings, now have to regroup ahead of their Test series with the world’s top-ranked side Australia in December.

The Proteas host Kenya and Bangladesh in October and November before they begin a three-Test tour to Australia in Perth on Dec 17. They then play a ODI series with Australia before hosting the Australians in another three-Test series, starting in Johannesburg on Feb 26.

Scoreboard

SOUTH AFRICA:

H.H. Gibbs c Prior b Broad 3

H.M. Amla not out 3

J.H. Kallis not out 0

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for one wkt, 3 overs) 6

FALL OF WKT: 1-3.

DID NOT BAT: A.B. de Villiers, J.P. Duminy, M.V. Boucher, J.L. Ontong, J. Botha, M. Morkel, A. Nel, D.W. Steyn.

BOWLING: Anderson 2-0-6-0, Broad 1-1-0-1

ENGLAND:

I.R. Bell, M.J. Prior, O.A. Shah, K.P. Pietersen, A. Flintoff, P.D. Collingwood, S.R. Patel, L.J. Wright, S.C.J. Broad, S.J. Harmison, J.M. Anderson.

RESULT: Match abandoned; England win series 4-0.

UMPIRES: N.J. Llong (England) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: R.A. Kettleborough (England).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Andrew Flintoff.

—Agencies