http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 v New Zealand-Expert Analysis
The Kiwis played some extra ordinary cricket in the quarterfinals against South Africa, overthrowing them out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Mirpur. Proteas, who were among the favourite teams this tournament, proved their tendency to succumb to pressure remains stronger than ever.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 for assessing the pitch beautifully and not setting their sights too high. Both of them, along with young Kane Williamson made sure the Kiwis reach a competitive total of 221 runs as the track was low and offered assistance to the slow bowlers.
The Black Caps were exceptional in the field today as they saved a lot of runs, and capitalizing on all the opportunities that were presented to them. Jacob Oram was a testament to the fact that there is no substitute for experience, as he and Nathan McCullum ran through the Proteas batting lineup.
New Zealand captain, Daniel Vettori praised his bowlers and fielders after the match, admitting the 221 runs- chase was not enough and his team had to put up a great fight to dismantle the South Africans.
He said, "Every single bowler stepped up today, and probably it was the fielding that got us through. Martin Guptill was exceptional. Once we got 221, we knew we had to be aggressive. We were hanging in there even when Kallis and AB were going. We wanted 250 on this pitch. We lost some wickets, and scrapped through to 220.”
On the other hand, after having never won a single knockout match in a global tournament, and coming so close to victory, it was an extremely disappointing loss for Graeme Smith, his players and the South African fans. Nicknamed as the ‘chokers’ in international cricket, Graeme Smith and his team once again lived up to their name.
South African bowling and fielding was spot on but were largely let down by their batsmen, who played disastrous shots to get out. At one stage, it even seemed like the match had tilted in favour of the Proteas, however, their middle order collapsed badly shortly afterwards.
After the match, Smith was naturally very disappointed but gave credit to the New Zealanders. This was Smith’s last game as the captain of South Africa in One Day International cricket but his team failed to give him the farewell he deserved.
Expressing his disappointment, he added, "No words to describe how I feel. Just have to take it on the chin. Very disappointing evening for me. I thought we bowled pretty well. At 100 for 2, we were sitting well, and then we lost too many wickets. The stand between Jesse and Taylor kept them in good stead, but we kept them to 220, which is very gettable.”
New Zealand now becomes the third team to qualify for the semifinals after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 or England in the first semi-final of the showpiece event at Colombo.
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