South Africa:175 all out (Miller 56 not out, Kleinveldt 43, Tredwell 3/19, Broad 3/50)
England:179/3 (Trott 82 not out, Root 48, Kleinveldt 1/10, Duminy 1/27)
England won by seven wickets
London: Watching South Africa in semi-finals at major ICC tournaments is like a rerun of a bad reality TV show. Why then do we believe that there will be a different ending each time?
Simply, because they tell us so beforehand, with lots of talk about remaining cool, calm and collected when the furnace, better known as pressure, reaches boiling point. Even the platitudes thrown out before are becoming stale, just like the performances it precedes.
On Wednesday, at The Oval was no different. In fact, it was an exact replica of South Africa’s batting capitulation in the 2007 World Cup semi-final against Australia in St Lucia. While there may not have been a premeditated suicide plan like that fateful day in the Caribbean, it was another horribly nervous performance from a batting unit that had looked so assured in previous games.
“We need to be honest with ourselves. We did choke the game and it is a word we have become comfortable with. It’s an uncomfortable word, but we have to become comfortable with it. We have to accept it. That’s what it is,” Proteas outgoing coach Gary Kirsten said post-match. “England bowled exceptionally well, but that doesn’t mean that your batting line-up has to be 80/8. It’s a horrible word. It does get used and we are open and upfront about it as a team.”
“It’s going to require some really tough individuals to overcome it. I don’t know if I’ve left the team in a better state. Certainly we haven’t improved. Maybe it’s a good decision I’m leaving.”
It is almost as if the mere mention of “semi-final” to a green-shirted batsman forces him to lose concentration, play silly shots and the ability to assess conditions. There can be no excuse for a batting line-up that contains the world’s two top-ranked ODI batsmen (AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla) to require a record ninth-wicket partnership of 95 between David Miller and Rory Kleinveldt for the Proteas to post some sort of a respectable total.
Yes, James Anderson bowled superbly well in helpful humid conditions, with the new ball suddenly swinging for the first time in the competition, but a certain degree of responsibility needs to be taken by senior players like De Villiers.
The South African captain is the most talented batsman in the Proteas line-up and often makes the insanely difficult appear just so simple.
However, especially on the big stage, De Villiers’s temperament has to come under serious question. The skipper walked to the crease with his team at 45/3, and while his instinctive nature is to counter-attack, his dreadful swipe way outside the off-stump to feather a catch behind off a Stuart Broad cross-seam delivery was inexcusable. De Villiers’s dismissal proved to be the catalyst for South Africa’s ultimate demise, with four wickets falling for just 26 runs in 35 balls.
“I think we had better expectations of our performances, for sure. You know, to be blown away with the bat with the quality of batsmen we’ve got in our batting line-up, I suppose, is very disappointing from that perspective.
“To have quality batsmen like that not being able to make a contribution, it’s disappointing,” Kirsten added.
It was almost ironic then that it was a former South African, now masquerading in the canary red of England, who showed the Proteas, firstly how to absorb pressure, and then how to actually flourish in it.
Jonathan Trott, educated at Rondebosch Boys’ High in Cape Town and a former Western Province and SA Schools representative, gets a lot of criticism here in England because he often has a sluggish strike-rate.
But Trott showed that semi-finals are not the playground of show ponies, but rather that of good workhorses. He timed his innings to perfection – at the impressive strike-rate of 97.61 – and snuffed out any chance South Africa had of defending their paltry total to take England to their second successive Champions Trophy final on home soil.
“Someone like Jonathan Trott knows what to do in those situations and batted really well. Batted like maybe we should have batted in many situations, so we can certainly take some learning out of that,” Kirsten said.
Wednesday’s debacle was the former Test opener’s final game in charge of the Proteas, during which time he steered the team to great heights in the longest format of the game.
But even Kirsten, who arrived as South Africa’s messiah after taking India to World Cup glory two years ago, had to admit that he too could not lift the “dark mist” that continues to hang over the Proteas at major ICC events.
Cape Times