Australia eked out a three-wicket victory over South Africa in a nail-biting low-scoring thriller in the World Cup 2023 semifinal at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on November 16, Thursday. With this win Australia secured their spot in the ODI World Cup final, where they will face mighty India on November 19.
Bowling first Australian bowlers did well to put South African batters under the pump. At one stage South Africa were reeling at 24/4 after 24.5 overs. However, they did put up a fight and somehow managed to post a modest total of 212 riding on David Miller's phenomenal century. In response, Australia's chase was initially hindered by South Africa's disciplined bowling as the Pat Cummins-led side was wobbling at 137/5 after the dismissal of Glenn Maxwell (1) in the 24th over.
The chase took a further turn when Australia's middle order, including Steve Smith (30) and Josh Inglis (28), threatened to take control of the game, reaching 193/7 in the 40th over. However, Gerald Coetzee stepped up and picked the crucial wickets of Smith and Inglis, reigniting South Africa's hopes. However, it was too late till then as Pat Cummins combined with Mitchell Starc to take Australia past the finishing line as they wrapped up the game with 16 balls to spare.
Meanwhile, dejected by the Australian jolt, which robbed off South Africa another chance to make it to the World Cup final, Temba Bavuma spoke his heart out in the post-match presentation.
While revealing the turning point of the match, Bavuma said,"Cannot put it into words, first of all congratulations to Australia. Good luck to them in the final. They played really well today. Our character came through today. We should a lot of resilience. The way we started with the bat and the ball was the telling point, that's where we lost the game."
Temba too failed to click with the bat as Mitchell Starc removed him for a four-ball duck and thus South Africa suffered a batting collapse. While Starc, Cummins dazzled with brilliant three-fers, Travis Head and Josh Hazlewood bagged two wickets apiece to limit South Africa to a lowly total.
"[Collapse] Conditions and the quality of the attack. They were ruthless. Presented with the conditions but they really put us under pressure. We were gaining momentum at that point, we've seen how destructive he can be in the latter part of the innings. David Miller showed what he can do as a player and his mental capacity. Would have liked to have bowled better, it allowed the other batters to play themselves in. Shamsi was terrific, we were competitive but we needed a lot to go right. We had chances - tough chances - but we put them down. Could have been more proactive but you need things to go your way. [Coetzee] As a young guys he was a warrior. There wasn't much happening for him to bowl like that and get the wicket of Smith, get us back into the game. He kept on going until he was cramping. [De Kock] Outstanding tournament. Would have wanted to end on a different note, but he'll remember the fight we showed as a team. We've enjoyed playing with him, in SA he will go down as a legend of the game," he concluded.
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