Thursday, November 16, at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, South Africa (SA) against Australia (AUS) in the second semifinal of the ODI World Cup 2023. With seven victories in nine games and a Net Run Rate of +1.261, South Africa concluded in second position in the points standings. Despite winning seven of the nine games, Australia’s lower Net Run Rate caused them to finish in fourth position.
When these two sides played one other in this competition previously, South Africa prevailed by a commanding 134 runs, scoring 311 runs overall. For the Proteas, Quinton de Kock amassed a century while Aiden Markram made 56 runs off of 44 deliveries. In eight overs, Kagiso Rabada claimed three wickets for 33 runs. In that game, only Marnus Labuschagne scored more than thirty runs for Australia.
In their most recent match, Australia defeated Bangladesh by eight wickets as they chased down the goal of 307 runs in 44.4 overs. Here, Mitchell Marsh emerged victorious as Player of the Match with 177 runs off 132 deliveries.
South Africa defeated Afghanistan by five wickets to wrap up their league stage campaign. In 47.3 overs, the Proteas managed to chase down the target of 248 runs. After hitting an undefeated 76 runs off of 95 deliveries, Rassie van der Dussen was named Player of the Match.
PITCH REPORT :
Thus far in the competition, Eden Gardens has played host to four games. In the first two games, the sides that batted first were bowled out for fewer than 250 runs. The first-batting teams have scored more than 300 runs in each of the past two games. Australia will be making their debut here. While South Africa’s match against India ended in a 243-run loss. In the last five games, the first innings score has averaged 262 runs. In the last five games, the teams who have won the toss have chosen to bat. This time is no exception.
South Africa :
Q de Kock (wk), T Bavuma (C), HE van der Dussen, AK Markram, H Klaasen, DA Miller, M Jansen, G Coetzee, KA Maharaj, K Rabada, L Ngidi
Australia :
David Warner, TM Head, MR Marsh, Steve Smith, JP Inglis (wk), GJ Maxwell, MP Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (C), A Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
