The South African team has once again lost the World Cup semi-final match. Australia has made it to the final by defeating South Africa by three wickets in a thrilling semi-final match played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Now on Sunday, November 19, Australia will face India in the final of the World Cup. Batting first, South Africa scored 212 runs. In reply, the Australian team won by three wickets in the 48th over. Travis Head scored the maximum 62 runs in the Australian innings. While Steve Smith contributed 30 runs and David Warner contributed 29 runs.
Travis Head, who played the biggest innings for Australia and took two important wickets in the same over, was given the 'Player of the Match.
Australia's innings got off to a fast start with Travis Head and David Warner. Both the batsmen scored 60 runs in the first six overs. During this, David Warner hit four sixes and Travis Head hit four fours including one six.
But after the dismissal of these two batsmen, the Australian team was in trouble. While no Australian batsman was out till 60 runs were scored, five Australian batsmen were out in scoring the next 77 runs.
Aiden Markram gave the first blow to Australia by bowling Warner on the first ball of the seventh over of the match. Warner scored 29 runs. In the very next over, Kagiso Rabada also sent back the new batsman Mitchell Marsh (0) to the pavilion.
Even after the dismissal of two batsmen, the pace of Australia's runs could not be controlled and by the end of 10 overs of the power play, they had scored 74 runs for two wickets.
But when Bavuma called Keshav Maharaj to bowl the 15th over of the match, he bowled Travis Head on the very first ball. Head scored the highest score of 62 runs in the Australian innings. He hit nine fours and two sixes in his innings of 48 balls.
Together with Steve Smith, Head added 45 runs for the third wicket. After this, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith added 27 runs for the fourth wicket. In the 22nd over of the match, Marnus Labuschagne was out LBW on the ball of Tarbez Shamsi.
Just two overs later, Shamsi gave the fifth blow to the Australian team by dismissing Glenn Maxwell. No batsman was out for the next 10 overs but Australia scored only 37 runs. Steve Smith was out after scoring 30 runs in the 34th over of the match. He tried to play a long shot but the ball took the top edge of the bat and went just above the pitch and De Kock made no mistake.
Ultimately, captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc added 22 unbeaten runs for the eighth wicket and took Australia to the World Cup final for the eighth time.
Earlier, thanks to David Miller's century, South Africa set a target of 213 runs for Australia to win. Recovering from the initial setbacks, the South African innings was handled by the pair of David Miller and Henry Klaasen. Klaasen scored 47 runs on 48 balls while Miller scored 101 runs on 116 balls.
After winning the toss in the second semi-final being played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, South African captain Temba Bavuma decided to bat first. His decision started looking wrong when Pat Cummins' bowlers performed strongly and lost four wickets for just 24 runs.
In the very first over of the match, South African captain Temba Bavuma was returned to the pavilion for zero by Mitchell Starc. After four overs, Quinton de Kock, who was the most successful African batsman in this World Cup, was caught out by Captain Cummins by Jos Hazlewood. De Kock could score only three runs. Till the powerplay, South Africa's score was 18 runs for two wickets.
Just after the power play, in-form Aiden Markram was caught by Warner in the eleventh over of the match, while in the next over, Hazlewood put South Africa on the back foot by sending Rassie van der Dussen back to the pavilion.
However, when South Africa's score was 44 runs for four wickets in 14 overs, it rained in Kolkata and the match had to be stopped. When the rain stopped, the match started after about an hour at 3.55 Indian time.
After the rain, Pat Cummins called his most successful bowler of this tournament, Adam Zampa, to bowl. On the fifth ball of the 17th over, David Miller sent Zampa's ball outside the boundary for a six and with this first six of the South African innings, the score crossed 50 runs. After the initial disintegration, Henry Klaasen and David Miller started shaping the South African innings and added a crucial 95 runs for the fifth wicket.
This pair was broken by Australian all-rounder Travis Head in the 31st over of the match. Head first took the wicket of Klaasen and then on his next ball Marco Jansen was out without opening the account.
Klaasen scored 47 runs on 48 balls. Apart from these two, no South African batsman scored even 20 runs. The South African team was all out after scoring 212 runs in 48.5 overs. For Australia, Mitchell Starc and captain Pat Cummins took three wickets each, while Jos Hazlewood and Travis Head took two wickets each. At the same time, the most successful Australian bowler of this tournament, Adam Zampa, did not take any wicket.
Also Read: The Top 10 most beautiful Pakistani women cricketers
Give Your Feedback