South Africa vs Australia Live Score, World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: South Africa won the toss and chose to bat against Australia in what is already a big moment at the Eden Gardens considering how the tournament has gone thus far for Temba Bavuma\’s men. South Africa weren\’t expected to make it till this point but now that they are here, they will have to deal with some old devils. It goes without saying that the Proteas have always been better than their World Cup record. They have never won this tournament, never even reached the final, but take a cursory glance into the past and you can identify various points at which South Africa arguably had the best team in the world across formats.
The current era didn\’t quite feel that way before the start of this tournament. This is a South African team made of youngsters who are yet to truly establish themselves and veterans who, except perhaps for Quinton de Kock, didn\’t quite fulfill the potential they had shown when they were young. They are led by a player who has blown hot and cold with his own personal form in recent years. Their cricket behind the scenes has been in a bit of a turmoil and there have been questions over whether South Africa are interested in Test cricket considering the kind of schedule they have got in the near future. They were never seen as pushovers before the start of this tournament, but not many commentators and former players had them chalked the Proteas down as a favourite to reach the top four.
What ended up happening is that the South Africans blew up batting records and their bowling lineup led by the extraordinary Kagiso Rabada and the tenacious Keshav Maharaj has done the rest. De Kock, who is set to retire from this format after the tournament, is in the form of his life, Aiden Markram has shown the number of gears he can play in while Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller have gone about destroying bowling lineups in all kinds of ways.
The only real worry they have had with regards to form and fitness has been captain Temba Bavuma. The 33-year-old has scored 145 runs in seven innings in the tournament – fewer than any of the other regular batters in the squad – but he is leaned on for his leadership and presence. South Africa won well without him when he missed the games against England and Bangladesh, both at the Wankhede, because of a stomach problem. But seem to be a calmer, more settled side when Bavuma plays.
The Australians had their own hamstring issue to worry about, particularly with regards to Glenn Maxwell after his miracle knock against Afghanistan. But scans have cleared him to play. How did he sustain that injury? Well if you are asking that, it means you missed one of the greatest ODI innings of all time. Australia were 91/7 at the Wankhede Stadium chasing a target of 292 against Afghanistan when he was joined in the middle by captain Pat Cummins. Together they put up an unbeaten partnership of 202 off 170 to lead Australia to the unlikeliest of wins. Cummins\’s contribution in that stand was 12 in, wait for it… 68 balls! Maxwell contributed 179 in 102 and ended with a score of 201 not out off 128 balls. Moreover, he practically had no feet to stand on for much of the last quarter of the innings having been besieged by all kinds of cramps. With no foot movement at all, he just stood and bashed fours and sixes and bludgeoned his way into World Cup folklore.
That match also is a nice reflection on Australia\’s campaign in this World Cup. They lost the first two matches by gigantic margins and were sent to the bottom half of the table, leading to many writing them off. Well, they just never lost a match after that and now, the five-time champions are two wins away from taking a sixth title.
Here are a few pointers around the South Africa vs Australia 2023 World Cup Semi-Final:
– South Africa won the toss and chose to bat
– South Africa and Australia have met just twice in the knockouts of the World Cup before this
– South Africa finished second on the points table while Australia finished third
– Rain threat looms over the fixture and if the reserve day is also washed off, South Africa qualify for the final
– Form guide (Last five matches): Australia – WWWWW; South Africa – WLWWW
Follow all the updates here:
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 02:12 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Just two runs in first 2 overs
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Hazlewood bowled the second. He has a good match-up against De Kock and the latter managed to get off strike off the second ball. Rassie van der Dussen was then pinned to the crease.
SA vs AUS Live Score: South Africa 2/1 in 2 overs
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 02:04 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: GONE! Bavuma falls for a duck!
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: There is the early wicket that Australia were looking for, Starc gets the South African captain with the last ball of the first over. Pitched on off, Bavuma take a poke, outside edge and Inglis with a comfortable take.
Bavuma c Inglis b Starc 0 (4)
SA vs AUS Live Score: South Africa 1/1 in 1 over
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:59 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: The players are out!
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Ricky Ponting has rung the bell at Eden. Quinton de Kock takes guard, Temba Bavuma at the other end. Mitchell Starc with the brand new ball in his hands. We will know at the end of the day which team faces India on Sunday but the journey towards the knowledge starts now. Here we go!
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:54 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: National Anthems!
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: It is all simmering nice here at the Eden Gardens. The two teams are standing adjacent to each other with all the officials and mascots. First comes Australia\’s national anthem and then South Africa\’s.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:48 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: What Cummins said
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Cummins admits that Australia would have liked to bat first as well. However, he is hopeful now that there is some swing early on since it is overcast. \”They play pretty similar style, unfortunately they have won a last few, we are due. We have been in these positions before. We have a lot of experience. We were not up to our best in those couple of games. But guys have been positive in the last seven games. Two changes for us. Stoinis and Abbott are out. Maxwell and Starc are in.\”
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:41 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Bavuma not 100% fit
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: The South African captain admitted that himself so, pretty strange that he is playing today. “We have come against a team like Australia in the semi-final. Means a lot to me, there\’s a game to focus on. Very important to stay in the present. Need to stick to our processes. Shamsi is in for Ngidi, Jansen comes in for Phehlukwayo.”
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:37 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: SA XI
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Quinton de Kock (WK), Temba Bavuma (C), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:36 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Australia XI
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:33 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: TOSS TIME!
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: South Africa have won the toss and chosen to bat first! That, is a significant development in this semi-final considering how the tournament has gone for South Africa thus far.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:13 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: THAT semi-final at Edgbaston…
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: We just have to talk about that game almost every time South Africa and Australia meet in a major tournament, let alone the World Cup semi-final itself. Australia scored 213 with the legendary Allan Donald picking 4 wickets and Shaun Pollock taking five. Donald of course would have a role to play in the Bollywood soap opera level drama that would come later. Shane Warne then picked four himself and it looked like Australia are set to defend their total. But South Africa fought back, first through Jacques Kallis\’ 53, then Jhonty Rhodes\’ 43 and then Lance Klusener launching an assault of seismic proportions. It came down to South Africa needing nine off the last over, Australia needing one wicket to win. Klusener start off with back to back fours and tied the scores. Then a dot ball and then… well the incident that seems to have cast a curse on all of South Africa\’s subsequent World Cup campaigns. Klusener pulled the fourth ball from Damien Fleming down the wicket, called for a single. Donald didn\’t move!! He ended up dropping his bat and somehow, both batters ended up at the non-striker\’s end. The fielder at mid-off threw it to Fleming, who under-armed it to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. In that time, Donald started running down the pitch with no bat in hand but it was all too late. The match ended as a tie but Australia went through because they finished higher on the Super 6 table. If South Africa go through this time because they finished higher on the points, well they can probably lay that ghost to rest for a little bit.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 01:08 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: A turner on offer?
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Well Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi took a look at the pitch yesterday and the former then mimicked a spinner\’s action. It is a black soil surface which is normally always good news for spinners. However, it can also provide sluggish bounce for the quicks.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:49 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Weather update
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: It was only a very light drizzle earlier and that has stopped but the covers remain in place, as do the clouds above them. Locals are of the opinion that there will be rain but it shouldn\’t be so bad that the match would get pushed to a reserve day. It normally doesn\’t rain that heavily, if it does, at this time of the year is their opinion. Remember what we said about those fingers earlier? Yes, continue to keep them crossed.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:41 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: A Klaasen apart
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Quinton de Kock has been the engine room in this tournament for South Africa whenever they have put up those run mountains batting first but it is the impetus provided by Heinrich Klaasen (and David Miller) that gets them going. In the process, Klaasen has played some of the most extraordinary ODI innings you would ever get to see. A stand out among those was the 67-ball 109 that he scored against England which propelled their score to 399/7 at the Wankhede Stadium. Until Maxwell\’s freakshow at the same venue, that was probably the best innings of the tournament.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:28 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-Final 2023: Covers, covers everywhere
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: The ground at the Eden Gardens is currently looking resplendent under the shiny white covers and there are little glistening water droplets all over it. A lovely sight, unless you are a cricket fan, which would be the majority of the people looking at it at the moment so well, not so lovely after all. It is drizzling at the moment in Kolkata and there are heavy dark clouds everywhere. But this is good, there is still an hour to go for the toss so maybe it will all just blow off by then. Keep those fingers crossed.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:17 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Bavuma on the team environment
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Bavuma doesn\’t feel he needs to go around hugging his teammates to calm them down because they seem to be pretty calm on their own at the moment, aside from the \”normal level of anxiety\” that comes ahead of a game of this stature. \”There\’s a sense of calmness within the team and obviously the normal level of anxiety that you would expect of going into the game tomorrow. But I think we\’ll take a lot of confidence with our performances up until this point. But yeah, I don\’t think I\’ll be going around giving guys hugs,\” he said.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 12:07 PM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: This match up in World Cups
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: For a long time in the 21st century Australia and South Africa were seen as the two of the best teams in the world across formats, particularly before the advent of T20s. In the World Cup, the two sides have met each other seven times. Each side have won three with the one tie being THAT semi-final at Edgbaston in 1999.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:55 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: The weather conditions in Kolkata
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: According to a Met department bulletin issued on Wednesday, South Bengal districts and Kolkata are likely to receive rains for the next three days starting Thursday. The depression over the west-central Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of 13 kmph during the past three hours and lay centred at 1130 hours IST Wednesday, about 470 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 620 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 770 km south of Digha (West Bengal). Heavy rains are likely to occur over districts of Purba Medinipur and South 24 Parganas district on Thursday, while light to moderate rains will occur in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman, Nadia and Paschim Medinipur districts.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:45 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Potential rain?
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: There are reports of rain potentially playing a role in this match. Whether it will be bad enough for a reserve day to be forced is unclear as of yet but Australia captain Pat Cummins seemed pretty calm about the whole affair. \”We\’ll turn up expecting to play a 50-over match tomorrow. If that shifts on us, we can adjust as needed. It feels like it hasn\’t really rained here for the last couple of months, so to see the weather looking like that for two days is not ideal,\” he said.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:30 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Australia\’s road to the semis
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: As stated earlier, Australia started off by lulling the rest of the world into a false sense of security. They lost to India by six wickets and then to South Africa by 134. But then they showed that they are Australia by not losing anything after that. Their run started with a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka, then a 62-run win over Pakistan before a World Cup record 309-run win over the Netherlands. They then saw off New Zealand with a thrilling five-run win and beat Ashes rivals England by 33 runs. Australia then ended the group stage with a three-wicket win over Afghanistan, which featured the aforementioned magic trick with no legs from Glenn Maxwell, and an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:21 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: South Africa\’s road to the semis
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: South Africa started this tournament with a bang, blasting all kinds of batting records out of the pond by scoring 428/5 against Sri Lanka. They won that match by 102 runs. Then they blew Australia away by 134 runs but the existential crisis that seems to be always around the corner for any South African side in a major tournament came when they were stunned by the Netherlands by 38 runs. But they came screaming from that setback, beating England by 229 runs, Bangladesh by 149 runs and then recording a one-wicket win over Pakistan in what was the first real thriller of this World Cup. South Africa then beat New Zealand by 190 runs before finally bowling first once again for the first time since that defeat to the Netherlands. It went horribly wrong once again for them as they were brushed aside by 83 runs against the marauding Indian attack and lost the match by 243 runs. They then ended the group stage with a five-wicket win over Afghanistan, thereby finishing second.
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:09 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: South Africa full squad
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Lizaad Williams, Reeza Hendricks, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:01 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Australia full squad
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Alex Carey, Cameron Green
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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 10:53 AM
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: Hello and welcome!
South Africa vs Australia Live Score, SA vs AUS World Cup 2nd Semi-final 2023: It is the Eden Gardens. It is South Africa and Australia who meet for the third time in the knockout of a World Cup. Will it be another thriller to end all thriller as in 1999, or a blow out like in 2007? Both games were in favour of Australia, will that be the result again or will this rather unheralded South African break the jinx that haunted the greats before the? We will find out at the end of this day, or next day, considering there is a lingering doubt over the weather. Here we go!