Australia and South Africa have a storied history of playing out thrillers not just in cricket, but also in rugby. While South Africa’s rugby team continue to find ways to close out tense encounters in World Cups, the same can’t be said about the cricket side. In the latest installment of South Africa-Australia contests, Australia once more came out on top, winning the Eden Gardens semi-final by three wickets. In a game of fine margins, Australia took their chances, while South Africa fluffed as many as four catches, and that proved to be the difference.
Australia chased down the target of 213 in the 48th over. David Miller’s fantastic hundred went in vain, while Travis Head was the game-breaker for Australia, bagging two wickets and scoring 62 runs.
The mood in the South African camp would have been a little more cheerful at the start of the day, when Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat. However, a little bit of moisture seemed to have seeped under the covers, and it helped Australia’s pace bowlers to extract seam movement. Yes, there was also a bit of swing, but it was the nip off the deck that put pressure on South Africa’s top order. Mitchell Starc was the first one to make the breakthrough when he induced the out-of-form Bavuma to edge one to the slip cordon.
Josh Hazlewood then took over by making the ball move this way and that at good pace. He dismissed Quinton de Kock, who miscued a loft towards Pat Cummins, who pouched an excellent catch running backwards. Aiden Markram looked in decent touch, but David Warner took a blinder at backward point to send him back to the hut. Rassie van der Dussen didn’t last long either, as Hazlewood took his second scalp.
At 24 for 4, South Africa were in dire straits. At that juncture, Miller and Heinrich Klaasen propped up the innings with a 95-run partnership. The duo took advantage of some wayward bowling from Adam Zampa – the leg-spinner bowled short or too full – to crack a slew of sixes. Miller’s trademark lofts over midwicket and down the ground were on full display.
Unfortunately for South Africa, Head’s double blow set them back. Despite losing wickets at the other end, Miller stood firm, stitching a partnership of 53 with Coetzee. In fact, the stand could have been more but curiously Coetzee didn’t avail the DRS, although replays showed that he had not gloved one down leg.
Eventually, Miller completed his hundred with a six off Cummins, but fell in the same over to Australia’s captain. Cummins also closed out the innings by removing Kagiso Rabada. Maxwell pouching the catch at long-on to dislodge Rabada exemplified Australia’s brilliant fielding.
In the chase, Head and Warner blazed away against Rabada and Jansen. The fast-bowling pair didn’t help their cause by bowling both sides of the wicket. In a single over, Warner smacked Rabada for three sixes. At the other end, Head was at his aggressive best, employing hoicks, whips and lofts. He even threw the kitchen sink at some of the deliveries. Head’s back foot ends up somewhere outside leg and his main strength is to smash shots through the off side. So, it was perhaps a mistake by Rabada to not try the round-the-wicket angle against him.
With the pitch offering considerable turn, Bavuma soon turned to spin, and it was Markram who picked up the scalp of Warner by rattling the timber. van der Dussen then took a superlative catch to send Mitchell Marsh back to the hut. Sadly for South Africa, that was followed by a string of missed chances.
Head was dropped by Reeza Hendricks, the substitute, in the deep. In the 14th over, Klaasen put down a half-chance in the slips. In the 18th over, de Kock grassed one off Smith from the bowling of Tabraiz Shamsi. A little more than 25 overs later, de Kock fluffed a chance off Markram to give Cummins a reprieve. With just nine runs needed for the win, that proved to be the final nail in South Africa’s chances of reaching the summit clash of the Men’s World Cup for the first time.
Bavuma also took a bit of time to use a slip fielder for Starc. And Starc predictably edged one through the vacant cordon off Coetzee, with the ball scurrying away to the third man boundary. Just sift through a bit of evidence, and you would see that Starc has repeatedly fallen in the slip cordon while facing England’s James Anderson in Test cricket. These small things add up in a tight game.
Eventually, just like he did in the Ashes Test at Edgbaston, Cummins closed out the game with a boundary. In between all those missed chances, Smith played a gritty hand of 30 while Josh Inglis played with composure for 28. On the other hand, Keshav Maharaj and Shamsi, the spin twins, bowled with purpose and shared three wickets between them. Shamsi running around the ground after castling Glenn Maxwell was one of the highlights of the game.
The other highlight in the second innings was Coetzee’s spell. The young fast bowler bowled with a big heart and give his all. Even an issue with his leg didn’t stop him from hitting the deck hard and bowling at high speeds. Rabada, the senior pro, was off colour. He also didn’t bowl at the fag end of the match. Probably, he was down with a niggle.
Australia have lost just one semi-final match in the history of 50-over World Cups, and that came against England, the eventual champions in 2019. Just like India, they are also on a winning streak, having won their last eight games. In three days’ time, we will get to know who among the two great cricketing nations will lift the trophy.