Man-of-the-match Andy Bichel (Getty Images).

By Neal Collins

There is a corner of Port Elizabeth which will be forever English. And distinctly anti-Australian.

Deep in the midst of the Duck Pond End, the Barmy Army were in full swing as England slumped to a dramatic 14th-sucessive defeat against Australia at a balmy St George's Park.

Talk about a shock. There we were, on the end of a 13-game losing streak against our ex-convicts and nobody was sure if England should win or not.

England got off to a great start, lost three wickets in 15 balls, recovered, and reached 204 for eight with stand-in paceman Andy Bichel taking SEVEN wickets - the second best EVER World Cup performance.

Australia lost unexpected early wickets to Andy Caddick, then Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan led the recovery but they were eight down for 137. Bevan battled on with Bichel, who was equally heroic with the bat.

Then, with Australia needing 14 off the last 12 balls, England captain Nasser Hussain dramatically decided to overlook Caddick and left 20-year-old Jimmy Anderson to bowl out.

Bichel slapped him for a huge six onto the scoreboard and a four...and it was all over. Andrew Flintoff gamely forced the Aussies to bat deep into the final over for the winning runs.

But no, Bevan ended with 74 not out, Bichel 34 not out, and the Aussies were home by two wickets.

The Barmy Army were stunned. Victory had looked one bad shot away. But this is not the end for England. In fact, a narrow defeat may have been the perfect result.

The trouble is, if England had won, Pakistan would be out of contention for a Super Six place. And if they don't beat Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Tuesday, England will be out of the tournament because they “beat” us when we failed to turn up for the game in Harare for our opening encounter.

Ironically, Sunday's defeat, plucked from the jaws of victory, means Pakistan have had a slim chance of qualifying. If the Pakistanis win their last game, the three nations will all be locked on 12 points with net run rate the deciding factor. And England are hot favourites in that scenario.

I tried explaining all this to the flag-waving Barmies at the Duck Pond end all morning. And most of the afternoon. They were far more concerned about the bars being shut at lunchtime. Apparently, they couldn't give a damn about the technicalities. They just wanted to stuff the Aussies.

And of course, that's exactly the right attitude. Robin Smith, the Hampshire and former England bat, was in the middle of it all with us, willing the lads on.

The Aussies too have a travelling group of fans. Perhaps we should call them the Crim Corps. A miniscule, heartless bunch they were too, sitting in their silly yellow and green shirts, occasionally whispering rude nothings in response to the Barmy Army's “You're the convicts, you're the convicts, you're the convicts over there”.

Of course, most South Africans are at one with England over our sporting hatred of all things Kangarooish. How we would all have loved to toast a victory over the old enemy.

But it was not to be. Ricky Ponting complained: “This wicket was a bit too slow for a good game of cricket, but we stuck in there.”

Bichel said: “I got a bit of swing, hopefully I utilised the conditions. I've batted a few times with Bevo at the end, and he's a cool head in these situations, I pride myself on my batting. Michael Bevan helps us tail-enders a lot.”

Now we must sit and sweat until Tuesday afternoon… hoping for a narrow Pakistan victory over Zimbabwe to put England through. Still, if anyone else gets this close against the Aussies, we'll all be surprised.