The ‘c’ word is back again as hosts South Africa choked once again in a world tourney and went out of the Champions Trophy after losing to England. There were huge expectations that after their wonderful tour of Australia last year, when they beat the world champs in both Tests as well as the limited overs series there, that the South Africans will take the step up to becoming the best team in the world and dominate the sport like the Australians did in the last couple of decades. That was not to be as the Aussies swiftly claimed revenge by winning the Test series when they toured the rainbow nation. At that stage the excuse was that the South African team was still on a high after their tour of Australia and celebrating that and so were not prepared for the return series so soon after that heady win. Then when the ICC World Twenty20 began strongly for the Proteas, the talk was about who they would be meeting in the finals.
It is one thing playing group league games where teams know that there is another game to recover but quite another to play in the knockout stage when you know that there is no other chance. Not surprisingly the Proteas choked again in the semifinals. So this ICC Champions Trophy was the opportunity to show that they were not chokers and that too in front of their adoring home crowd. That chance was in jeopardy from the inaugural game itself where they were pummeled by the Lankans and lost badly. Still it was felt that beating New Zealand and England should not be a problem.
England, however, are looking a totally different team than the one seen in the recent series against Australia and they batted superbly to get over 300 runs. South Africa did make a spirited effort to get them but it was never going to be easy chasing 300 plus under the lights and so England have got through to the semis with ease. Paul Collingwood is in tremendous touch and Eoin Morgan is turning out to be a dangerous batsman in the slog overs. The South African pitches also are giving the seamers some assistance and so they are looking better than they did in England. The New Zealanders too have lifted their game and the manner in which they posted over 300 in the match against Sri Lanka shows that they too have not given up the fight. They will be playing a confident and in-form England and if they do beat them then both those teams will qualify for the semis from their group.
Since theirs is the last game of that group New Zealand also know exactly the margin by which they can afford to lose since the net run-rate will come into play to decide if they or the Lankans go through with England to the knockout stage. Of course they will be looking to win and not at the net run-rate because that will definitely hamper their approach and its always better to qualify with a win than sneak in through the back door.
— Professional Management Group
