The Proteas came close, but ultimately went down by three wickets to Australia in Thursday’s World Cup semi-final in Kolkata; here’s what went right for Australia, and wrong for South Africa during the match.
THE PROTEAS came close, but ultimately went down by three wickets to Australia in Thursday’s World Cup semi-final in Kolkata.
Here are our Plays of the Day…
Review of the Day
In a night where nothing seemed to be going in South Africa’s favour, this is a review the Proteas desperately needed to go their way.
Even the toss did not go in South Africa’s favour, despite winning it and batting first, which is what any other team would have done, seeing how dominant teams who batted first had been throughout the tournament.
Because of the gloomy overhead conditions, coupled with the fact that the pitch had been under covers right through the night, there was swing on offer for the Australians, nullifying South Africa’s decision to bat first.
Moreover, Tabraiz Shamsi’s leg-breaks were hard to read for Marnus Labuschagne, and one of them hit the right-hander on the pads – with the umpire ruling it not out, inflicting more agony on the players.
It looked plum with the naked eye. However, ball-tracking revealed that more than 50% of the ball’s impact on the pads was outside the line of the stumps, thus ruling it ‘umpire’s call’ against the Proteas.
Shot of the Day
South Africa had to start well with the ball, having put a small total of 212 on the board. And when Marco Jansen was attacked right away by Travis Head, Kagiso Rabada had to respond well at the other end to make full use of the two new balls.
Rabada did exactly that in his first over, hitting a good length, and put David Warner in uncomfortable positions as he was beaten for pace and swing.
But Rabada strayed onto Warner’s pads in his second over, and the opening batter dispatched him for six over the square-leg boundary, as if he wasn’t looking uncomfortable an over prior.
Using the pace to scoop Rabada for six 🤯
This David Warner six is one of the moments that could be featured in your @0xFanCraze Crictos Collectible packs!
Visit https://t.co/2yiXAnq84l to own iconic moments from the #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/VgszQtUWfq
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) November 16, 2023
Big Moment of the Day
Eventually, Warner was deceived by excellent flight from Aiden Markram’s part-time off-spin bowling. It was a mere experiment from captain Temba Bavuma, and he was rewarded straight away as Markram executed to perfection to clean-bowl Warner.
South Africa were desperate for a wicket, having gone for 10 runs per over in the first six, with Warner accounting for 29 of those Australian runs as he took only 18 deliveries to put them together.
Ball of the Day
As expected, the Australian batters struggled to fend off spin bowling just like they had struggled right through the World Cup. The No.1 ODI bowler, Keshav Maharaj, together with his spin twin Shamsi, tied the opposition batters in knots.
Shamsi produced a ball to Labuschagne that beat the outside edge of the bat to trap him lbw for 18. Before that magical delivery, the leg-spinner had been bowling a series of leg-breaks to the right-hander, and in this particular case, bowled a googly that spun away and beat the outside edge of the bat.
