Mirpur, March 25:South Africa yet again stumbled in the knockout phase of the World Cup crashing to a 49-run defeat against New Zealand in the third quarter-final of the 2011 ICC World Cup. Chasing 222 to win, South Africa were comfortably placed at 108 for two in 24 overs before their batting imploded and they folded for a score of 172 all out.
Earlier, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and opted to bat first. Rob Peterson and Dale Steyn landed the initial advantage for South Africa as they sent both Kiwi openers, Brendon McCullum (4) and Martin Guptill (1), back to the pavilion within the first six overs.
A gritty 114-run partnership followed between Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor as the South African bowlers kept things tight. However, with the fall of Taylor’s wicket with the score at 130, New Zealand let the advantage of a solid foundation slip away. They quickly slid to a score of 156 for five in 38.5 overs. Ryder, an otherwise fluent stoke-player, made an uncharacteristic 83 off 121 balls while Taylor’s innings followed a similar trend, the batsman scoring 43 off 72 balls.
It was left to the young Kane Williamson, who made his debut against India in the recent 2010-2011 series, to take the Kiwi total to 221 as he helped himself to an unbeaten, 41-ball knock of 38 runs. For South Africa, Morne Morkel took three wickets while Imran Tahir and Dale Steyn took two wickets each.
South Africagot off to an unfortunate start as Hashim Amla, playing a defensive shot to Nate McCullum, only ended up hitting the ball straight into his foot – the ball ricocheted directly into Daniel Vettori’s hands at slip. Following a referral to the third umpire, Amla (7) had to make his way back to the pavilion and South Africa were eight for one in just the first over.
A couple of solid partnerships followed – 61 runs between Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis and 39 runs between Kallis and de Villiers – that looked to take South Africa home without much trouble.
However, when Kallis (47) was caught brilliantly by Jacob Oram at the deep mid-wicket boundary off Tim Southee’s bowling in the 25th over, the game changed decisively. JP Duminy (3), always uncomfortable against spin, was bowled by Nate McCullum in the 28th over while AB de Villiers (35) was run out off the last ball of the same over.
Next, Oram dismissed Johan Botha (2) and Rob Peterson (0) while McCullum dismissed Dale Steyn (8) to leave South Africa tottering at 146 for eight in 37.4 overs.
Faf du Plessis tried to stage a rescue act, the all-rounder hitting his way to 36 off 43 balls. But when he was caught at cover point off Oram’s bowling with the score at 172, any hope of South Africa coming back from the dumps went with him. Three deliveries later Morne Morkel (3) was caught by substitute Jamie How at long-off to hand New Zealand a berth in the semi-final.
Brief scores: New Zealand221 for eight in 50.0 overs (Jesse Ryder 83, Ross Taylor 43, Morne Morkel 3/46, Imran Tahir 2/32) beat South Africa 172 all out in 43.2 overs (Jacques Kallis 47, Faf du Plessis 36, Jacob Oram 4/39, Nathan McCullum 3/24) by 49 runs.
Man-of-the-Match:Jacob Oram for his excellent bowling figures of 9-1-39-4 and his brilliant catch of Jacques Kallis in the outfield that proved to be the turning point in the game.
