South Africa faced another defeat in a crucial global event knockout game, but Head Coach Rob Walter believes their performance against Australia in the second ODI World Cup semifinal wasn't a choke. Despite a start at 24/4, David Miller's counter-attacking century propelled South Africa to a respectable 212.
Australia, though tested, eventually chased the target in 47.2 overs.
Walter shared his definition of a 'choke,' emphasising it as losing a game when in a position to win. He highlighted that South Africa fought back from the beginning and put up a score that gave them a chance. Walter expressed that being 30-40 runs short made a difference but credited the serious contest between two strong tournament teams.
"In this instance, we were behind right from the word go, and we actually fought our way back into the competition and put up a score that gave us a chance," Walter said in the post-match media conference. "And then, again, they (Australia) got us to a flier. We fought and we put ourselves back into the game," he said, adding 30 more runs would have made the difference.
"Of course, we were 30 runs or 40 runs short, but still having them seven down. So, for me, there's nothing even remotely close to a choke that happened out there today. It's a serious contest between two good teams of the tournament," he added.
Reflecting on batting first after winning the toss, Walter acknowledged the unexpected pitch behaviour in the initial overs, affecting their strategy. He believed that had the pitch played as expected, they would have backed themselves to reach 270. Despite the setback, Walter emphasised the positives, including the impressive partnership between Klaasen and Miller.
"It's gutting to lose semifinal. It was incredibly serious challenge in first 12 overs. To come back from 12/4 the with the way Klaasen and Miller put together, it showed 270 was the total. Even 250 would have proved to be a serious total. First 10 overs on either side separated the game. But there were a lot of positives to take home," Walter added.
"To be honest, even the commentators that I've spoken to, no one could predict the pitch to play like that for the first five overs. And had it played as we expected it to, then we would have backed ourselves to get 270. And once we got 270, because it was turning so much in the evening, we knew that that was going to be our end into the game.
"And ultimately it was, really. We just didn't have enough runs to work with. It's easy to say in the back end of losing, but I think the contest would have been even a touch closer than it really was.
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