Follow UsThe heartbreaks have continued for South Africa in the World Cup semifinals as they weren’t able to come through the Australian challenge at the Eden Gardens in the second semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Things initially began well for them as Temba Bavuma won the toss and chose to bat first on a track which has been helpful to bowlers as the match progresses along. However, due to overcast conditions, Mitch Starc moved the new ball both ways, and combined with the accurate and incisive bowling of Josh Hazelwood to reduce South Africa to 24 for four wickets in just the 12th over.
From there, it was very hard to recover for the Proteas, and despite showing a lot of fight and maintaining the pressure, they eventually fell short.
Speaking in the post-match presentation, Skipper Temba Bavuma praised the fight shown by his team in dragging the game with just a 212 runs first innings total to the second innings.
He said, “Our character came through today. We showed a lot of resilience.” However, he regretted his team not starting well in both innings, as they dropped quite a few chances in the second innings as well and allowed Australia to score heavily in the power play.
“They got 70-odd in the first 10, and that really allowed the rest of the guys to settle. Markram and Maharaj were fantastic, and they really put them under pressure. We had chances, tough chances that we put down; it could've been a bit close had we held on to them. “
“The way we started with the bat and the ball was the telling point; that's where we lost the game. The conditions, combined with the quality of their attack, really put us under pressure. You're always going to struggle to put up a competitive total when you're 24/4.”
Once South Africa were four down, David Miller combined with Heinrich Klassen to resurrect the innings; however, Klaasen became one of Travis Head’s double victims in the 31st over at a score of just 119. Temba Bavuma acknowledged that.
“We were gaining some momentum when Miller and Klaasen were out there, but unfortunately, he (Klaasen) couldn't carry on a bit longer. Miller's innings was superb really highlighted the character of the entire team. It was extraordinary to do that in such a pressure situation and in a World Cup semi-final.”
Despite the errors in the field yesterday, Gerald Coetzee proved his class with the ball, bowling nine overs for 47 and picking up two wickets, and created a plethora of opportunities. His captain was quite impressed with his performance throughout the tournament. “As a young guy, he (Coetzee) really was the warrior for us; there wasn't much happening for the seamers then, but for him to come round the wicket and to take the wicket of Smith was incredible. He was cramping, but he still wanted to keep bowling.”
Bavuma also remarked on what was Quinton de Kock’s last ODI match. “Quinton would've probably wanted to end his career on a different note; despite the result, I think he'll remember his time. He'll go down as one of the legends in South African cricket.”
India and Australia will play in the World Cup final on November 19.