Follow UsSouth Africa lost the semifinal against New Zealand by 50 runs and were knocked out of the Champions Trophy.
New Zealand batted first and Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson put on a masterclass of hitting on the off side, as South Africa failed to control the flow of runs in the middle overs as well. Both scored centuries and with late impetus provided by Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips, New Zealand reached 362/6 in their 50 overs.
South Africa never got going in the chase, and after Temba Bavuma's slow start, skipper Mitch Santner blew the middle order away. David Miller played a late blitz to complete a hundred, but the Proteas eventually fell 50 runs short.
Skipper Bavuma rued not controlling the key moments in the game and said that one of their main batters had to emulate what Ravindra and Williamson did.
“I do think it was above-par. Probably if it was 350, we would have backed ourselves to chase the score,” Bavuma said.
“We had one or two partnerships today but we needed me or Rassie to go on and emulate what two of their batters did.”
He credited Ravindra and Williamson for finding gaps and mentioned that the Kiwi batters constantly kept the pressure on.
“They really put us under pressure from the word go, the way they were able to pierce the off-side at the start and the way they played in the middle overs,” the Proteas skipper said.
“Kudos to them, credit to their batters, Rachin and Williamson and even the batters who came in, Mitchell and Phillips.
“We were 125/1 and me and Rassie were still batting. Unfortunately, we weren't able to set that foundation for them. A bit of a soft dismissal for me and a better dismissal for Rassie and we left too much for them in the end.
“We had to be more decisive, not give an opportunity for the opposition to come back and being ruthless. We needed to take care of the key moments in the game,” he added.
New Zealand will now play India in the final of the Champions Trophy on March 9 in Dubai.