At the start of the ongoing ICC World Cup, not many would have given South Africa a chance to make it till the last four stages, but once they are here, they are expected to deal with the old devils. On Thursday, the Proteas came out with a mission to reach their first ever World Cup final, but ran out of road after going down fighting by three wickets in a tense second semifinal at the Eden Gardens here.
In a repeat of the 1999 World Cup semifinal, the Australians in their hunt for a sub-par 213, got off to a decent start with Travis Head slamming a 48-ball 62 and more importantly set the tone with a 60-run stand with fellow opener David Warner (29) before Aiden Markram drew first blood by ending Warner’s 18-ball vigil. Mitchell Marsh perished for a duck, and Head too was dismissed by Keshav Maharaj, leaving the job to Steve Smith (30) and Marnus Labuschagne.
The right-handed pair added 27 runs but Labuschagne never looked comfortable facing the South African spinners, especially against the left-arm wrist spin of Tabraiz Shamsi and eventually was trapped in front while attempting a reverse-sweep of a ball that straightened. Shamsi struck a double blow with the wicket of the dangerous Glenn Maxwell to reduce the Kangaroos to 137 for 5.
With Smith and stumper Josh Ingis in the middle, Australia were always in for a chance, but the Proteas kept themselves in the hunt once Gerald Coetzee induced the former Australia skipper to hack across the line of a short-of-a-length delivery for Quinton de Kock to hold on to the skier.
With Australia 20 away from a win, Coetzee jeoparadised the chase with the key wicket of Inglis, who held one end with a sedate 49-ball 28, leaving it for Pat Cummins (14 not out) and fellow pacer Mitchell Starc (16 not out) to take the Kangaroos to Sunday’s World Cup final against India in Ahmedabad.
Earlier, South Africa’s decision to bat on a wicket that wasn’t conducive for stroke-making, backfired as Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc dismantled the top order in no time to reduce the Proteas to 24 for 4 by the 12th over of the match. Starc and Hazlewood were relentless with their lines and lengths while the Australian fielders were flying around and stopping almost everything. It led to South Africa scoring just 22 runs in the first 11 overs and losing three wickets, including their batting talisman Quinton de Kock. Matters got even worse as Hazlewood got Rassie van der Dussen in the 12th.
Two overs later the game was interrupted by a passing shower, and by then David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen dragged the side to 44 for 4, and on return after a 50 minute break, the duo carried on the rebuilding work with a 95-run fifth wicket stand.
With the Aussie pacers dominating the proceedings, the right-left combo of Klassen and Miller decided to use the long handle against leg-spinner leg-spinner Adam Zampa, dispatching him for as many as six sixes to restore the tempo back into the South African innings. And as the partnership started flourishing, Aussie skipper Pat Cummins got his part-timer Travis Head into the attack, and the off-spinner delivered on the fourth ball of his first over by castling Klassen, three shy of a half century.
Left without much support from the other end, Miller raged a lone battle, allowing himself to free his arms for the occasional boundary but more importantly curbed his natural instincts to forge another vital 53-run seventh wicket partnership with Gerald Coetzee (19) and later added 19 runs with Keshav Maharaj (4) to ensure his side got to the 200-run mark. In the process, Miller also got to a gritty century. He fell soon thereafter on 101 off 116 balls and South Africa were all out for 212 in the final over.