2007 Cricket World Cup - 2nd Semi-Final: Australia vs South Africa

From Wikinews

April 25, 2007

Australia have beaten South Africa by 7 wickets in the second Semi-Final match in the World Cup at the Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet, Saint Lucia.

Australia progress to the Final to play yesterday's winners Sri Lanka with a chance to win their third consecutive title.

After winning the toss, South Africa decided to bat. They lost captain Smith in the second over followed by the rest of the top-middle order collapse - including McGrath taking the wickets of Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher in successive balls. He almost claimed his first World Cup hat-trick but the third ball sailed inches wide of Justin Kemp's off stump. 149 is the worst batting performance in this World Cup for South Africa.

Despite losing Adam Gilchrist in the 2nd over, Australia never really struggled. Helped by another 40 from this year's top scorer Matthew Hayden (who is now only 52 runs behind Sachin Tendulkar's record of 673 runs in a single World Cup, achieved in 2003) and 60* from Michael Clarke they eased towards their place in the final inside 32 overs.

Toss: South Africa won, and elected to bat first.
South Africa innings
Player Status Runs Balls 4s 6s Strike rate
Graeme Smith b Bracken 2 5 0 0 40.00
Abraham de Villiers c Gilchrist b Tait 15 34 3 0 44.11
Jacques Kallis b McGrath 5 9 1 0 55.55
Herschelle Gibbs c Gilchrist b Tait 39 49 6 0 79.59
Ashwell Prince c Gilchrist b McGrath 0 2 0 0 00.00
Mark Boucher c Hayden b McGrath 0 1 0 0 00.00
Justin Kemp not out 49 91 4 1 53.84
Andrew Hall c Gilchrist b Tait 3 8 0 0 37.50
Shaun Pollock c & b Hogg 5 13 1 0 38.46
Andre Nel c Clarke b Tait 8 41 1 0 19.51
C Langeveldt b Watson 6 10 1 0 60.00
Extras (lb 4, w 13) 17
Total (all out; 43.5 overs) 149 17 1

Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Smith, 2.3 ov), 2-12 (Kallis, 5.3 ov), 3-26 (de Villiers, 8.5 ov), 4-27 (Prince, 9.4 ov), 5-27 (Boucher, 9.5 ov), 6-87 (Gibbs, 22.5 ov), 7-93 (Hall, 26.1 ov), 8-103 (Pollock, 29.4 ov), 9-130 (Nel, 40.1 ov), 10-149 (Langeveldt, 43.5 ov)
Australia bowling
Bowler Overs Maiden Runs Wicket(s) Econ
Nathan Bracken 7 2 15 1 2.14
Glenn McGrath 8 1 18 3 2.25
Shaun Tait 10 0 39 4 3.90
Shane Watson 8.5 0 49 1 5.54
Brad Hogg 10 2 24 1 2.40
Australia innings (Target: 150 runs from 50 overs)
Player Status Runs Balls 4s 6s Strike rate
Adam Gilchrist b Langeveldt 1 5 0 0 20.00
Matthew Hayden c Smith b Pollock 41 60 4 0 69.33
Ricky Ponting b Nel 22 25 5 0 88.00
Michael Clarke not out 60 86 8 0 69.76
Andrew Symonds not out 18 16 3 0 112.50
Extras (lb 5; w 3; nb 3) 11
Total (3 Wickets; 31.3 overs) 153 20 0

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Gilchrist, 1.1 ov), 2-44 (Ponting, 8.6 ov), 3-111 (Hayden, 24.4 ov)

Did not bat: Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait, Glenn McGrath.
South Africa bowling
Bowler Overs Maiden Runs Wicket(s) Econ
Shaun Pollock 5 1 16 1 3.20
Charl Langeveldt 6 0 34 1 5.66
Jacques Kallis 5 1 20 0 4.00
Andre Nel 7 1 31 1 4.42
Andrew Hall 6.3 0 43 0 6.61
Justin Kemp 2 0 4 0 2.00

Australia: A C Gilchrist (wkt), M L Hayden, R T Ponting (capt), M J Clarke, A Symonds, M E K Hussey, S R Watson, G B Hogg, N W Bracken, S W Tait, G D McGrath
South Africa: G C Smith (capt), A B de Villiers, J H Kallis, H H Gibbs, A G Prince, J M Kemp, M V Boucher (wkt), S M Pollock, A J Hall, A Nel, C K Langeveldt

Player of the match: G D McGrath

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and S A Bucknor (West Indies)
TV umpire: B F Bowden (New Zealand)
Match referee: J J Crowe (New Zealand)
Reserve umpire: M R Benson (England)