SEMI-FINAL CURSE: Right or wrong at the toss the Proteas go home while Australia hold their nerve to reach Cricket World Cup final

By Sport Reporter

South Africa’s painful record in Men’s World Cup semi-finals continues, with the record now standing at seven matches and seven defeats. The 2023 edition of the South African semi-final story had a different feel to it, a spirited effort in defeat rather than a gut-wrenching choke perhaps.

And yet, at the same time, there are so many reasons for South African regret. This was a team who finished second in the league standings having hammered their semi-final opponents earlier in the tournament by 134 runs.

This was also a team that had produced some of the best batting displays of the tournament, with opener Quinton de Kock finishing as one of the leading run-scorers.

And this was a team who got what they wanted at the toss and chose to back their batting strength in Kolkata conditions that appeared helpful to bowlers. A three-wicket loss doesn’t quite tell the story, with South Africa recovering from 24/4 in the 12th over to reach a competitive score thanks to David Miller’s excellence.

And then with the ball it was a performance that showed spirit and heart right to the end. But, for all of the positives, captain Temba Bavuma was left to do the interview as losing semi-final captain, for the fifth time in ODI World Cup history.

“It’s quite hard to put it into words,” Bavuma said as he spoke to Michael Atherton at Eden Gardens. “I think firstly congratulations to Australia, all the best to them in the final. They were outstanding for a large part of the game and thoroughly deserved the victory.

“I think our character came through, that bit of resilience that we always think about. It was a bit of a dogfight.

“But looking at the result of the game, the way we started with the bat and the ball was probably the turning point, we lost it quite badly there. And we always had to play catch-up to get ourselves back into the game.”

Resilience and fightbacks don’t tally well with the choker tag that South Africa are so often saddled with, and coach Rob Walter agrees that this defeat was far from being a choke.

“I mean I guess you need to define what a choke is,” he said. “For me, a choke is losing a game that you’re in a position to win. In this instance, we were behind the eight-ball right from the word go and we actually fought our way back into the competition and put up a score that gave us a chance.

Australia hold their nerve to beat South Africa and reach Cricket World Cup final “Of course we were 30 runs or 40 runs short, but still, having them seven down and a couple of things – balls bouncing just short, a little inside edge that could have been taken.

“For me there’s nothing even remotely close to a choke that happened out there today. It’s a serious contest between two good teams, number two and three in the tournament.”

Right or wrong at the toss?

South Africa are a bat-first team. But faced with overcast conditions and an Australian attack featuring some serious quality with the ball, their start with the bat did not exactly go according to plan.

“I think it was the conditions combined with the quality of the attack,” Bavuma said when asked why South Africa were quite so poor in the opening 12 overs. “(Josh) Hazlewood as well as (Mitchell) Starc up front, they were ruthless.

“They exploited every bit of advantage that was presented to them with the conditions and they really put us under pressure. I think when you’re 4/24 you’re always going to struggle to get a competitive total.”

Should Bavuma perhaps have read conditions differently and opted to bowl first? His head coach says no – that did not tally with what anyone at the ground would have said prior to the match.

“Hindsight isn’t an exact science, is it?” Walter said. “To be honest, even the commentators that I’ve spoken to, no one could predict how the pitch would play for the first 12 overs.

And had it played as we expected it to, then we would have backed ourselves to get 270.” The wait for a men’s final appearance at an ICC World Cup goes on, with attention now turning to next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA.

Victory for Australia sends them through to Sunday’s final against tournament hosts India, where they could win a record sixth men’s Cricket World Cup crown.

GARY PLAYER’S PROMISE AND PURPOSE

LEGACY: South Africa’s greatest sportsman welcomes sporting greats to annual invitational in honour of his late wife Vivienne

By Ali Mphaki

As Gary Player sits at Sun City preparing to welcome sporting greats, celebrities and business leaders to the annual Gary & Vivienne Player Invitational this weekend, he thinks about the one person who helped him to see the difference between leaving behind a great golf career, or leaving behind a legacy.

“Vivienne was the rock in my life. She opened my eyes to more than just golf. She had such an intense love for children that it was her idea to start a school on our farm for the local community, and which grew into becoming the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School of today,” says Player of his late wife. It has been just over two years since Vivienne passed away from pancreatic cancer.

“In her last words to me, Vivienne asked me to promise to keep our Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation going and to ensure the children of the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School continue to be taken care of.” This weekend at Sun City, South Africa’s greatest sportsman will continue a promise he made to his wife in her final moments – with some help from his friends.

A selection of South African sporting greats and celebrities as well as business leaders and business giants such as Rolex, Sun International, BMW, Amrod, Citadel and Tabono will gather for the Gary & Vivienne Player Invitational at The Lost City Golf Course from 18-19 November to use golf to raise funds for the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School.

“From the day we opened the doors to the school on our farm in 1990, Vivienne absolutely loved these children like our own. She wanted to see all children thrive no matter their backgrounds or circumstances. Vivienne taught me unconditional love. She was a woman driven by love for people, which I share, and a desire for everybody to have their place in the sun. There is such a love around this tournament because her spirit is still so much a part of everything we do at the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation, and she will always be our guide in this sense.” This weekend at Sun City, a promise will be kept. A promise made to a woman who, while her husband became a legend, she helped to launch a legacy. 2023 Gary & Vivienne Player Invitational Celebrity Participants:

Shaun Bartlett; Kenny Dalglish; Patrick Lambie; David Kau; Matthew Booth; Maps Maponyane;   Sally Little; Aaron Mokoena; Brian Baloyi; Stefan Terblanche; Jaco van der Westhuizen; Adriaan Strauss; Reuben Riffel; Rolene Strauss; Butch James; Rosko Specman; Rob Kempson; Ryan Kankowski; Keegan Daniel; Robbie Frylinck; Jacques Rudolph; Herschelle Gibbs; Paul Adams; Jaco Kriel; Waylon Murray; Rory Kleinveldt; Joey Rasdien; Felicity Shiba; Gary Player; Naas Botha.

About the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation.

With the desire to support, uplift and develop underprivileged and vulnerable children, the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation was established to nurture and educate a handful of children near their estate outside of Johannesburg in South Africa.

Building on their legacy, Gary and Vivienne Player have devoted their life’s work to making a difference in communities and to individuals. They remain committed to protecting and enriching the lives of our precious youth and will continue to do so in every way possible.

About the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School

The Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School is situated in the Lanseria area, northwest of Johannesburg, and provides quality education to the learners of this marginalised community.

The school has been in operation since 1990 and is dependent on private funding. It caters for 125 learners from the ages of 3 to 6. As there are very few other pre-schools in the area, it performs the vital task in ensuring the children from the surrounding impoverished communities receive stimulation and education in preparation for their entry into formal schooling.

The Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School offers a unique educational opportunity, which goes beyond the four walls of the classroom, providing the children with a stimulating and diversified programme that incorporates sports (namely dance and tennis), cultural activities, and a small computer centre.

The school manages a feeding scheme where they work diligently throughout the year to purchase food, form-balanced menus, and prepare healthy meals for the children.