South Africa came agonisingly close to winning an ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final for the first time. After struggling to post a decent total (212) at Kolkata's iconic Eden Gardens, the Proteas produced a valiant fightback against five-time champions Australia, and yet still they ended up losing the match by three wickets. After the match, South Africa's head coach Rob Walter hailed his players. (Video: ICC)
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00:00 It's obviously gutting to lose a semi-final, but beyond that, incredibly proud of the fight
00:14 shown by the lads. The first 12 overs of batting this afternoon was a serious challenge and
00:23 ultimately I think that's what separated the game really, 24-4-4, even to come back from
00:27 24-4-4. The way Klaasie and Davey Miller batted together in that partnership and unfortunately
00:35 you know Heinrich just getting out when the momentum was really starting to turn in our
00:38 favour. But then the way again Gerald partnered with Dave and the tail to get us to 2.13,
00:47 obviously short. I think 2.70 was the sort of total we were speaking about, but even
00:53 2.50 would have proved to be a serious total there. On either side of it there, first 10
01:00 overs, a lot less movement in the ball, a lot less bounce and obviously a very different
01:05 mode of attack that the two of them bring, which we've seen time and time again in this
01:09 competition. So probably the first 10 overs on either side separated the game. But just
01:15 to see the way that a guy like Gerald De Kock, Quinton and Gerald mixed together, that's
01:22 a scary thought. Gerald could see a run in from the bottom end there, cramping and just
01:30 putting everything on the line just to try and get the team into the game. Guys played
01:35 less than 15 games to play like that. So there was tons of positives today, but obviously
01:41 pretty bummed to not get over the line.
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