ICC World Cup 2019: Match 45, Australia vs South Africa – Who Said What

Not many would’ve fancied South Africa to emerge victorious in this fixture, but as it turns out, the Proteas saved their best performance till the final day of the group stages and finished the tournament with an absolute bang. Their win against Australia ended up confirming the semi-final fixtures in a slightly different way to what was expected before, with India facing New Zealand and Australia locking horns with England.

It has not been a memorable tournament for Aiden Markram and Quinton de Kock but the duo provided a good start on the final day. Their 79-run opening partnership provided a great platform for the likes of Faf du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen to dance upon and take the side to a big total. The duo added a terrific 151-run partnership for the 3rd wicket which saw Faf complete his hundred.

After Faf’s dismissal, Rassie van der Dussen got going and got very close to scoring his first ODI ton. The 30-year-old finished with 95 and he got dismissed off the final of the innings. South Africa ended up scoring a commanding 325 runs on the board courtesy the contributions from Dussen and Du Plessis. Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon picked up two wickets each for the Aussies.

Warner and Carey take Australia close

The target was pretty huge and the Aussies got off to a very poor start. They lost Aaron Finch very early and Steve Smith too couldn’t get going. Usman Khawaja went back to the pavilion after his hamstring troubled him and an important partnership between Marcus Stoinis and David Warner began settling a platform for their side.

David Warner rode his way through to a brilliant hundred although Marcus Stoinis couldn’t partner him for a long time. But Alex Carey didn’t throw his wicket away easily and played a good hand from the other end. After Warner was dismissed for 122, Alex Carey stepped on the pedal and upped the ante big time. He took the side real close but fell after scoring 85 off 69 balls.

Mitchell Starc was joined by Khawaja, who came back to bat out the remaining overs. They did create some tension towards the end, but it wasn’t good enough for the Aussies to finish on top of the points table. South Africa finished their group stages with a 10-run win against the five-time champions and that could potentially have a big impact on the eventual outcome.

Man of the match and South Africa skipper, Faf du Plessis said:

It’s been a tournament where I felt like I was hitting the ball well throughout the tournament and I was not able to convert my 50s and 60s into a big one. I managed to do that in the last two games. Always a pleasure to play against Australia.

Nice to get a close game today and we got the result we wanted. Today was just a great example for the young batters out there. I mean, to stay composed and trying what you need to do. Just a case of hanging in there and executing your game plan. To hang in a period of time shows great maturity for a young batter and I think Rassie did that perfectly.

I like to play that shot against 120-130ks bowlers but when a guy is steaming in at 145ks it is not easy. It was a (inside out) shot that I practice a lot and I backed myself to connect it. Absolute champion of human beings both of them (Imran Tahir and JP Duminy). Immy (Tahir) in the last 2-3 years has been exceptional and he has been the heartbeat of the team and JP is like the father figure of the team. Great to send them with a win!

It’s frustrating, but the last two games we have turned up. It’s important for the guys to bat through and get hundreds. When you give your bowlers a chance, it’s always good. It’s different when you put runs on the board. We weren’t getting those big scores.

Someone like Starc has been chipping 5-fers regularly. We have played inconsistent cricket. You need guys to lift the team and win the games on their own. We weren’t at our best. I have tried to figure out why I bat nicely against them, it’s about reflecting it just a night before. I like playing against them. I think India would be really happy that we won today.

New Zealand’s form has dipped in the last three games, so I would probably say an India-England final. I think India and Australia have played the big games really well, so I would back one of them at the biggest stage of all.

Australian captain Aaron Finch said:

We would have loved a win, but quite a few positives to take from this match. We pulled ourselves back out of hole, David Warner scored a magnificent hundred. Carey played a good knock to get us so close. We didn’t hit the areas regularly.

It’s a bit frustrating, but we can learn from that. Still plenty to learn, it’s a positive that we managed to get so close, although we didn’t play our best cricket. Doesn’t look well when it comes to Khawaja, we have to wait for his scans in the morning. We’ll make a call after the result. Not sure about Stoinis too, tough to know.

The whole Australia A squad is here, the four-day guys and one-day guys… if we need any replacement. It’s going to be a blockbuster against England, hopefully, it’s a great game. The fans at Edgbaston are amazing, it’s going to be a great atmosphere, we know that. It’s such a great place to play with such packed houses. Just looking forward to getting down there and start our preparations.