South Africa’s choking streak continues as Kiwis kick them out of quarter-finals: ICC World Cup 2011
New Zealand’s not-so-convincing bowling attack shattered the South African dream of lifting the ICC World Cup 2011 trophy by a victory margin of 49 runs in the third quarter-final at Mirpur on Friday.
Veteran pacer, Jacob Oram, led the Kiwi attack with a 4-wicket haul in order to make sure the Proteas’ safe flight to Colombo crash lands few kilometers before reaching the destination. South Africa’s batting line choked under pressure when the whole team fell like a pack of cards and were shot out for a measely 172 runs, while chasing an achievable total of 221 runs.
The day belonged to Jacob Oram who took a lovely catch at mid-wicket of Mr. dependable, Jaques Kallis. Oram was the top performer of the day and Jessie Ryder played a remarkable knock of 83 runs.
The Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur was packed to the rafters since morning with cricket-crazy fans thronging to the venue to witness a close encounter between two mighty giants of the cricketing world in a must-win game. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first. However, things took a turn for the worse when the Kiwis opening pair failed to provide the much needed partnership stand.
Brendon Mcculum was walking back to the pavilion after scoring only 4 runs. Mcculum fell victim to a brilliant Robin Peterson’s spectacular catch of his own bowling. Then at 16, Martin Guptill lost his wicket to Darel Steyn as a result of some intelligent pace bowling. This was a crucial time when Jessie Ryder and Ross Taylor took over the proceedings and successfully pulled together their fast sinking ship. Together, they piled up a much needed partnership of 114 valuable runs.
Taylor was dismissed for 130 runs by Pakistan-born leg spinner Imran Tahir. As the Kiwis meandered towards the score of 153, Scott Styris was sent back packing by a Morne Morkel delivery. The game at this point with Kiwis at 153-4, was tipped in favour of the Proteas, who thought they were back on the winning track.
Shortly afterwards, Ryder failed to read Tahir’s spin and was caught by Collin Ingram. The Kiwi’s then lost Nathan Mcculum, Daniel Vettori and Oram in quick succession but they managed to put up an achievable total of 221 runs on board with a required run rate of 4.42 runs per over.
South African openers stepped on to the field with hopes of easily making to the semis. The first shockwave came with Mr. consistent, Hashim Amla’s early departure in the very first over of Nathan Mcculum. Then, skipper, Graeme Smith succumbed at the hands of Oram as he departed at the score of 69-2.
South Africa was cruising to victory as Kallis and AB Devilliers were once again performing with the bat.
Then there was a twist in the tale, when Kallis tried to play an extravagant stroke which surprisingly found Oram near the boundary line. Oram covered a breathtaking distance to dismiss Kallis. The next batsman dismissed was JP Duminy, clean bold by Nathan Mculum.
The last thing Proteas would have wished for was a run out. The indecisive run proved suicidal for Devilliers who went back to the pavilion. Finally, the South Africans choked as they went on to lose their tail-enders in a hurry. The whole team was wrapped up by some impressive Kiwi bowling at a minimal total of just 172 runs; the target of 222 becoming the new unlucky nelson for the Proteas.
Before the World Cup, Proteas skipper, Smith suggested that the word “chokers” is not an appropriate word for his champion side. But choking season seems far from over for South Africa. They are physically fit and tough. All they need is mental fitness to sustain pressure in crunch situations so lady luck would finally smile down at them.
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