da poker： South Africa made a real mess of the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophyin Sri Lanka by throwing away a winning position and a place in the final
Keith Lane26-Sep-2002South Africa made a real mess of the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophyin Sri Lanka by throwing away a winning position and a place in the final.Having the game in their hands with 13 overs to go they ended up losing,against India, by 10 runs.After a lightning start from India the South African bowlers did anexcellent job of restricting the Indians to 261 in their 50 overs. At stagesof the Indian innings it looked as if they were going to amass a score ofclose to 300.Debutante Robin Peterson, 10-0-47-0, and veteran Lance Klusener, 10-0-40-1,put a stop to the flow of runs, and an excellent three wicket final spellfrom Shaun Pollock did the trick towards the end. A much-improved bowlingperformance supported by a superb fielding display showed the keys of aprofessional team.Herschelle Gibbs set the tone to the South Africans innings. Ably supportedby Jacques Kallis, the two set a new second wicket partnership for SouthAfrica against India taking the score to 192/1 before Gibbs had to retirehurt from exhaustion due to the hot and humid conditions in Colombo. Gibbsscored his second century, 116 in 119 balls, in two games.With nine wickets in hand and 70 runs to score in 13 overs the game was allbut over. The script had been written and the South Africans seemed toaccept it too easily that they had made it to the final.The Indians however did not. The quick exit of Jonty Rhodes, Boeta Dippenaarand Mark Boucher spelled doom for South Africa; they had collapsed to 214/4in a matter of seven overs, while adding just 26 runs. The result of allthat was the run rate spiralled up to eight runs an over.Once Gibbs left the field, Kallis was presented with the ideal opportunityto take over the reins and ensure South Africa play in the final. A task hewas either too tired to do, or unwilling to accept. During the period of the final 12 overs (72 balls) Kallis only faced 35 balls in which he scored 33 runs,including a six off his second last ball in the final over. Why it had tocome down to the last over with six wickets in hand is something only theSouth Africans will know.Was it a case of “Leave it to Lance, he always pulls us through” or is itthat the South Africans just do not, or are incapable of learning anylessons from previous encounters? By now they should have known that Klusener seems to have lost the ability to bring the South Africans back into the game.A week ago, against West Indies, they found themselves in a similarposition. A match that they should have won with a lot to spare waseventually won when the cricket Gods smiled on them. A wide off the lastball managed to give them an undeserving victory. Nothing seems to have beenlearnt from that match.After a loss against Sri Lanka in Morocco, and India in Sri Lanka, the SouthAfricans get a chance to redeem themselves in the home series’ againstBangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan before they head into the World Cup.It will be prudent to remember that South Africa was rated number two in theworld a year ago. For a team looking to win the World Cup in their ownbackyard, some tough choices will have to be made to realise their truepotential. As the case always is, it is that tiny step forward in the rightdirection, which is going to make all the difference.