MIRPUR: There is certainly no team in world cricket who can beat South Africa's consistency in traveling till the wire before giving up the ghost.
At the Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Friday, they proved that this characteristic is purely their preserve when Graeme Smith and his men, who were running to seal their place in the semifinals, got knocked out by New Zealand by 49 runs.
It was hard to believe that this was the same team that had won five matches in the group stage and lost only five matches in last 24 ODI outings. Batting first, New Zealand made 221 for eight and then bowled out the opposition with surprising ease at 172 in 43.2 overs. This was South Africa's sixth loss in the knock-out stages of the World Cup since 1992.
The road to New Zealand's victory was first laid by Jesse Ryder who made a fighting 83 off 121 deliveries and then Jacob Oram (4 wickets) and Nathan McCullum (3 wickets) put the skids under South African batting to hand them a humiliating loss.
In a pathetic batting display, all the top South African batsmen got off to good starts but except Jacques Kallis (47) and AB de Villiers (35) none of the others could translate the good starts into knocks of substance. On a low and slow wicket, Oram was rewarded for stump-to-stump bowling. He also moved the ball well and cleverly used the slower ball. He took the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson and Smith.
Jacques Kallis' effort failed to lend much value to the total as he departed just as the South African innings began to rely more on the all-rounder's effort. de Villiers too departed in similar conditions, getting run out precisely at a time when his side needed him to stay at the crease. Plessis did try to swing the match South Africa's way, but in the end it wasn't enough.
In contrast, New Zealand did quite commendably on a pitch that had something for the spinners even with the new ball. However, Vettori's decision to bat first appeared to backfire when they lost both the openers early - Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill quite cheaply.
McCullum fell to his own greed while Guptill found the going tough and simply couldn't wriggle himself out. At 16/2 New Zealand looked in deep trouble, but a 114-run stand between Ryder and Taylor resurrected their innings.
Ryder, who has not been among runs, was a little shaky to start with, but as he grew in confidence with the time he spent at the crease. His first half-century comes as a boost to himself as well as the team ahead of the semifinal.
As runs were not easy to come by, the duo ran their singles and twos quite well and rotated the strike. Kane Williamson's smart 38 enabled the team to put a respectable total on the board.
toi
At the Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Friday, they proved that this characteristic is purely their preserve when Graeme Smith and his men, who were running to seal their place in the semifinals, got knocked out by New Zealand by 49 runs.
It was hard to believe that this was the same team that had won five matches in the group stage and lost only five matches in last 24 ODI outings. Batting first, New Zealand made 221 for eight and then bowled out the opposition with surprising ease at 172 in 43.2 overs. This was South Africa's sixth loss in the knock-out stages of the World Cup since 1992.
The road to New Zealand's victory was first laid by Jesse Ryder who made a fighting 83 off 121 deliveries and then Jacob Oram (4 wickets) and Nathan McCullum (3 wickets) put the skids under South African batting to hand them a humiliating loss.
In a pathetic batting display, all the top South African batsmen got off to good starts but except Jacques Kallis (47) and AB de Villiers (35) none of the others could translate the good starts into knocks of substance. On a low and slow wicket, Oram was rewarded for stump-to-stump bowling. He also moved the ball well and cleverly used the slower ball. He took the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Johan Botha, Robin Peterson and Smith.
Jacques Kallis' effort failed to lend much value to the total as he departed just as the South African innings began to rely more on the all-rounder's effort. de Villiers too departed in similar conditions, getting run out precisely at a time when his side needed him to stay at the crease. Plessis did try to swing the match South Africa's way, but in the end it wasn't enough.
In contrast, New Zealand did quite commendably on a pitch that had something for the spinners even with the new ball. However, Vettori's decision to bat first appeared to backfire when they lost both the openers early - Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill quite cheaply.
McCullum fell to his own greed while Guptill found the going tough and simply couldn't wriggle himself out. At 16/2 New Zealand looked in deep trouble, but a 114-run stand between Ryder and Taylor resurrected their innings.
Ryder, who has not been among runs, was a little shaky to start with, but as he grew in confidence with the time he spent at the crease. His first half-century comes as a boost to himself as well as the team ahead of the semifinal.
As runs were not easy to come by, the duo ran their singles and twos quite well and rotated the strike. Kane Williamson's smart 38 enabled the team to put a respectable total on the board.
toi
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