Under overcast skies, Australia were at their authoritative best with the ball and on the field early in their semi-final against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
During the toss, Themba Bavuma and Pat Cummins both said they wanted to bat first. Perhaps the late emergence of Eden Gardens and the difference in records between South Africa and Australia’s first shot and his second shot may have been common factors behind their reasoning. , that’s natural.
Out of the four matches played at Eden Gardens before the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup, three were won by the team batting first. His batting average in the first innings was 32.23, while in the second it was 20.42. His run rate for the first shot was 5.61, almost one run faster than the second shot (4.63).
Certainly, considering everything, including the pressures of the World Cup, cloud cover and the possibility of rain meant that there was a lot to be desired at the time of the draw. The captain also hinted at it (though it’s a result). Batting first in the semi-finals seems like a wise decision. Until Australia proves otherwise.
Mitchell Starc, who hasn’t had a great World Cup performance by his own standards, taking just 10 wickets in eight league matches, started with his natural length to the batsmen, but was unable to get past the line. This is the first over where I wasn’t completely in control.
Quinton de Kock hit a leg-stump half-volley on the second ball of the first ball. It could have been the first boundary of South Africa’s innings, but he hit Travis Head, who flew at square leg, limiting him to just one hit. single. Finally, South Africa’s first boundary came in his ninth over of the innings, 50 balls later.
Due to the change in strike, Bavuma went on strike. Although he had declared that he was “not at 100 per cent” when bowling, he had just four balls and the last ball of the first over sailed past the wicketkeeper to give Australia their first breakthrough.
Josh Hazlewood shared the new ball with Stark. With the sky above his head and sharp pitches, he was set up to do his job, hitting the ball a good distance and hitting the ball both ways. He did just that. His first ball hit de Kock’s bat and the second fell to the outside edge but went past the slips.
Twelve of Hazlewood’s first 15 pitches scored. De Kock had had enough, converting three of his 13 shots. He tried to bowl another long ball towards the stumps behind the screen, but he only managed to throw it straight to the ground and Cummins dove over his head.
South Africa’s score after six overs was 8-2, in stark contrast to India’s score of 58-0 at the same stage in the first semi-final against New Zealand yesterday.
But South Africa’s ordeal did not end there. Starc, who had previously bowled less than four overs in his first World Cup appearance, received his sixth (and finally seventh) delivery of the day. When Aiden Markram hit the second ball of Starc’s first ball of his sixth over, there was a hunch that South Africa might break from their shackles. Instead, they lost his third wicket after his four balls.
Starc corrected his line to the outside and started a drive from Markram. Markram got a thick outside edge to the back point. David Warner had already made several diving stops inside the 30-yard circle with his teammates, flying to his left to dislodge Markram.
Hazlewood brought on Heinrich Claassen to take the lead in the next over, but it wasn’t enough. His energetic accuracy created a further advantage on the next ball, this time against Rassie van der Dussen, and this time the ball fell straight into the lap of Steve Smith at second slip. To cap off this great over, Hazlewood scored three successive outside edges from David Miller on the last ball, with Miller going over the slips to score four.
After 12 overs, South Africa had scored just 28 runs for the loss of four wickets, with Starc and Hazlewood sharing two each for 14 and 12 runs.
A day after India and New Zealand scored over 700 runs in the World Cup semi-final with a brave display of clean white balls, Australia forced South Africa into the ropes by bowling the line and length of the red ball. Corpses around the field.
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