It’s becoming a familiar storyline for the Proteas—another year, another devastating loss at a major tournament.

Despite showing real promise and confidence with dominant group-stage victories over Afghanistan and England, South Africa’s dreams of lifting the ICC Champions Trophy were dashed in the semi-finals.

The Final Push for the Proteas

Temba Bavuma’s team entered the semi-final brimming with confidence after their strong performances in the earlier rounds.

The sun blazed down in Pakistan as New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat.

Early hope sparked for the Proteas when Lungi Ngidi’s delivery led to the dismissal of opener Will Young, caught by Aiden Markram on 21 runs.

However, this would be South Africa’s only wicket for quite some time.

New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra and the experienced Kane Williamson took control, both scoring impressive centuries.

The middle order also contributed heavily, with Daryl Mitchell’s 49 off 37 balls and Glenn Phillips’ not-out 49 off 27 balls, putting the Proteas in a tough spot.

By the time New Zealand’s innings ended, they had amassed a formidable 362 runs.

South Africa’s Collapse in the Chase

The Proteas’ chase started off with hope, especially with in-form Ryan Rickelton at the crease.

However, his stay was short-lived, and he was dismissed for just 17 runs.

The team briefly revived its chances with solid half-centuries from Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen, but then disaster struck.

Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, and Keshav Maharaj all failed to make a significant contribution, managing no more than eight runs each.

Amidst the batting collapse, David Miller stood firm, displaying impressive form as he blasted 100 runs off 67 balls.

Yet, despite his heroics, South Africa fell short by 50 runs, unable to chase down New Zealand’s imposing total of 362.

Bavuma Reflects on the Loss

After the match, an understandably disappointed Temba Bavuma spoke about what went wrong and the lessons the team would take from the semi-final defeat.

“It’s those moments,” he said, reflecting on the crucial turning points during the match.

“We needed to be more decisive in those key moments, not giving the opposition a chance to get back into the game.

We needed to be ruthless,” he continued. Bavuma acknowledged the importance of building partnerships, something the team struggled with during their chase.

“We had one or two partnerships, but we probably needed one of us, either myself or Rassie, to go on and emulate what New Zealand’s top four batters did.

Personally, I think I had a soft dismissal that didn’t help our cause. Ideally, we would’ve wanted both of us to keep going until the 30th over, knowing how destructive our middle order can be.”

Bavuma went on to explain that the target of 363 runs always required someone to play a standout innings.

While David Miller’s century was crucial, he admitted that the team needed another strong contribution to push them across the line.