ODI World Cup 2023

[Donny]

5/146. Spinners weaving their magic.

67 needed from 24 overs.

Smith 20*, Inglis 4*.

[Donny]

Inglis playing the spinners well.

5/165, needing 48 to win.

Smith 24*, Inglis 17*.

[Donny]

Smudge (30) miscues a short one, skies it and de Kock completes the catch.

Starc in before Cummins.

36 needed from 90 balls.

[Donny]

This is why Inglis replaced Carey, as keeper - his batting.

[Donny]

25 needed from 72 balls.

Inglis 27*, Starc 6*.

[Donny]

Inglis yorked by Coetzee (2/40) for 28. 7/193.

20 needed from 60.

Cummins could be out, lbw. Goes upstairs.

Pitched outside leg. Phew.

[Donny]

Full toss. Free hit. Dot.

12 needed from 48 balls.

[Donny]

9 needed from the last 6 overs.

Starc 11*, Cummins 8*.

[Donny]

After Starc drove a 4, it's 3 to win.

Starc 16*, Cummins 9*.

[Donny]

Cummins cuts a 4.

Aussies win.

[Donny]

Starc & Cummins added 22 runs at the death.

[pietillidie]

Another awesome win.

[Pies4shaw]

Ultimately, on a difficult wicket, South Africa only had 2 batsmen who could get to 20. That's never going to be enough to win a big final. Moreoevr, they had too many top-order players who wouldn't put their head down, over the ball and do the difficult work to make a win possible. van der Dussen, to his credit, really did try - but if ever you wanted to appreciate the difference between a batsman with a Test average of 30 and a real batsman, his innings was the exemplar.

Australia probably should have won this more comfortably. Warner and Head had the match in Australia's keeping at 0/60 from 6 overs - then Warner's decision to try to belt the first ball from the off-spinner out of the ground before he'd had a sighter was probably just a bridge too far. Have no doubt, though - Head was POTM but Warner was the one who set the opposition right back on its heels.

Ultimately, the Test-quality batting came to the fore in those conditions. Marsh looked awful trying to get started but then Smith stopped a repeat of the collapse that ruined South Africa's innings by batting carefully and not getting out, even though he obviously did not enjoy the conditions. It's important to appreciate that just two players across both teams managed to stay out there long enough to face 50 balls. Smith was the only one from Australia who did.

So, now we get the New Zealand v South Africa Final the competition deserves. Oh, wait ....

I do not think Australia can win the Final but we do plainly have the correct Final for this World Cup. India are unbeaten and Australia is on a run of 8 consecutive wins, in which it has taken down every team except India. Probably, Australia remains comfortably the best ODI team in the World but, in the likely conditions (and, make no mistake, the Indians won't roll out a wicket helpful to the fast bowlers for the Final), the possibility of bowling spin from the outset, or very near the outset, will likely give the Indians an easy victory.

That said, of course, Maxwell missed out with the bat in the Semi-Final - that's a good thing because if he gets going against India, he will power Australia to victory. He is the most damaging short-form batsman that has ever played the game.

And, of course, if they're silly enough to roll out a wicket that Starc and Hazlewood can use, it's possible India won't reach 100.

[Donny]

"Pat Cummins has once again proved he's the man for a batting crisis.

Five months on from his Ashes heroics at Edgbaston and a week after partnering with Glenn Maxwell to steer Australia home against Afghanistan, Cummins has done it again against South Africa.

This time, Australia's captain was required to add only 20 runs for the eighth wicket with Mitchell Starc on Thursday night, but those runs couldn't have been harder to glean on a spinner's wicket in Kolkata – and with a World Cup final place at stake."

CA.

[lazzadesilva]

Serious choke from the Springboks! Not good enough to win a WC semi final.