South Africa’s faces told the tale.
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Disappointment was writ large, but dejection was nowhere to be seen. There were handshakes and embraces, but only a few sunk to their haunches. The smiles were wry, but they were still smiles. There were frowns, but not tears. This was heartbreak. How could it not be, when you’ve finished second in the group stage, when you’ve shattered records, when your retiring legend has had the tournament of his life, only to fall short, once again, at the penultimate hurdle?
Five semi-finals, no finals. That’s the ledger that hangs heavy over the Proteas. But in the past, the emotion has been shock. ‘How on earth have we lost that?’ could sum it up. Today, it was ‘How on earth did we almost win that?’
This wasn’t nerves getting to South Africa. They rose to the occasion, rather than being overawed by it. They gave everything, and the result was a World Cup classic. It shouldn’t be held against South Africa that Australia shaded it.
That’s not to say that there weren’t errors and missteps. The toss decision deserves scrutiny, and looks, with hindsight, like a misjudgement. But it’s one Australia also would have made, and South Africa have been so dominant batting first that they gambled they could negotiate the conditions. You can’t legislate for a bowling and fielding performance as impeccable as Australia delivered first up, and South Africa made the most of a contrasting set of tough conditions later in the game. A score of 24-4 felt about par for what South Africa had been faced with, and 212, from there, felt a distant dream.
With the ball, again, there were near misses and questionable calls. Temba Bavuma relied too heavily on match-up theory early on, holding back Keshav Maharaj when Travis Head was flying, forgetting that, when the pitch is turning, if a spinner is good enough, it doesn’t matter which hand the batter holds the bat with. It took him one ball to clean up the southpaw opener through the gate, but, by then, he had already played the chase’s decisive knock. Could he have crowded the bat more? Should a slip have been a permanent fixture? Where was Kagiso Rabada, South Africa’s champion bowler?
Several fielders will have their own, personal what-if moments. Reeza Hendricks, left out for a less than fully fit Bavuma, shelled Head on the rope. He was out soon after, but not before he had smashed a trio of boundaries off Gerald Coetzee. Quinton de Kock put down two fifty percenters off the spinners, but also had the game of his life as a leader, rising to the occasion in his last ODI for his country, exhorting his teammates and dictating the play.
The spinners were exceptional, Keshav Maharaj unhittable, and Tabraiz Shamsi’s only flaw that he was finding too much turn. When he hit the magic spot to clean up Glenn Maxwell, he set off. Often the purveyor of cutesy, prearranged celebrations, this was primal and unfiltered, a sprint and roar that even his wrist-spinning predecessor Imran Tahir might have thought was a bit much.
But the lionhearted Coetzee was the story, charging in for nine overs on the bounce, still hitting 150kph in his last, and with the skill and the intelligence, as well as the guts, to provide the perfect three-card trick to see off Josh Inglis. Bouncer, bouncer, yorker, see ya. Pressure can make you crumble, or it can forge a diamond.
If anything, it was Australia who blinked, Steve Smith playing one of his worst shots, and Maxwell following up one of the greatest innings in history with something from the other end of the scale. Their twin head starts allowed them to edge over the line in front, but South Africa spent much of the game clawing back ground.
This all swirled around Bavuma, who many South Africa fans wouldn’t have picked for this game, and who was out for a four-ball duck in the first over. There were some debatable tactics, but also some inspired shouts, the part-time spin of Aiden Markram ending a dazzling opening stand first ball. He was content to cede the floor to De Kock, though it takes a captain versed in humility to sense when it’s someone else’s turn to step up. But given what we know of South Africa in semi-finals, any performance that deviates from the script has to reflect well on the skipper. His side were scythed to ribbons and smashed apart and somehow kept coming. South Africa leave India with another notch etched into the hearts, but also having proven their hearts are as big as any.
