Australia Vs. South Africa Recap
Australia had an interesting Cricket World Cup as they were blasted by both South Africa and India in their opening matches before winning seven straight to find themselves in the semi-finals.
Their opponent was none other than South Africa who gave them their biggest ever defeat in a World Cup when they crushed them by 134 runs earlier in the tournament.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first which came to the surprise of some due to the conditions. However, South Africa’s record this year when batting first is far better than when they chase, so the decision made sense on paper.
On the field however, it did not go the South African’s way. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood performed brilliantly with the ball in hand.
The pair of pace bowlers went back and forth forcing the South African’s to just 4-24 after 12 overs in an amazing display.
The South African’s looked stunned as they were being forced to defend their wickets without many chances to put runs on the board.
They settled in a bit following their fourth wicket falling as a Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller 95-run partnership gave the Proteas a bit of excitement at 5-119.
The man who claimed that wicket was Travis Head. The decision to bring in the part-time spinner was a risky one but paid off greatly as he was not done yet. With his next bowl he snagged another wicket pushing South Africa to 6-119.
The South African’s fought hard down the stretch as Miller blasted a century, but they were only able to do so much after their dreadful start as they left the field with 212 on the board.
Australia got off to a very different start batting than their opponents. The opening partnership of Travis Head and David Warner took Australia to 60 runs in just six overs before Warner lost his stumps.
Mitch Marsh then joined Head in the middle but was unable to put up any runs as his shot down the off side was beautifully caught by Van Der Dussen as the Aussies were now at 2-61.
Travis Head kept on pushing along however knocking 62 before losing his wickets with his team at 3-106.
In the rest of the Australian lineup, no one really played out of this world it was just a string of Aussie men contributing and inching their team closer to 213.
Steve Smith ended on 30 runs, Labuschagne was bowled with 18, Maxwell scored just one, and Josh Inglis 28 as Australia sat at 7-193 with Mitchell Starc and Captain Pat Cummins batting.
The men known for their bowling were able to get it done offensively as Starc finished on 16 and Cummins 14, both not out, winning the match with 7-215.
Australia Set to Face Undefeated India in the Final
The final will be an extremely difficult task for Australia as the play the undefeated and seemingly unbeatable host’s India.
India dispatched of Australia with ease in their opening match of the World Cup and did the same to each and every team they faced after. In their semi-final India took down New Zealand by 70 runs at 397/4 to 327.
India will be confident given their form and last match against Australia. This is a much different Aussie team than the one from the tournament’s onset however and they cannot be taken lightly.
