 "Where did things go wrong for South Africa in semi-final against New Zealand? Captain Bavuma and coach Walter explain")
South Africa’s campaign in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final came to an abrupt halt as New Zealand executed their game plan to perfection, securing a dominant 50-run victory. In the aftermath, South African captain Temba Bavuma and coach Rob Walter reflected on what went wrong for them in the crucial encounter in Lahore.
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Coach Walter and captain Bavuma on South Africa’s CT 2025 exit
South Africa’s head coach Rob Walter acknowledged the team’s inability to halt the momentum of New Zealand’s batting lineup, particularly in the middle overs. New Zealand posted a mammoth 362 runs after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson scored brilliant centuries to help their side score a big total.
“We could bemoan our execution a little bit, but certainly you’ll never question the effort of the guys. We sort of threw whatever we could at them, but unfortunately, we couldn’t break that partnership which really set them up to push towards the end,” Walter said.
South Africa attempted to adjust their strategy, but the conditions made it difficult to slow New Zealand down. “We certainly tried to change the pace, but I think the ball wasn’t really gripping at that stage in the early phases, so the ball kept sliding on. I mean, it was a pretty good batting wicket. You don’t score 360 if it’s not a good batting wicket. So no, through no lack of effort, I don’t think,” Walter added.
While South Africa started the chase well, they faltered at a crucial stage, collapsing from 125-1 to 189-5. This sudden slump left them with too much ground to cover in the latter half of their innings.
“Ideally, you would’ve wanted both of us [himself and Rassie van der Dussen] to keep going until at least the 30th over. We know how destructive our middle order can be when they’re coming in the last 20 overs,” Bavuma said.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to set that foundation for them. Little bit of a soft dismissal, at least from my side. I think that just left too much for our middle order,” he added.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsDavid Miller fought hard to keep South Africa in the chase, but the lack of support from the other end made the task nearly impossible.
Bavuma admitted that chasing 360 was always going to be a tall order. “Yeah, look, I do think it [target] was above par. I think as well as they bat, we felt that if [the target was] anything around 350 - not over 350 - we’d back ourselves to chase the score with the wicket hopefully getting better,” he said.
“From a batting point of view, we just weren’t able to really get those partnerships. There were one or two partnerships there, but I think you probably needed either myself or Rassie van der Dussen to go on and emulate what their top four batters did,” Bavuma admitted.
Despite Miller’s valiant effort, South Africa ultimately fell short. “360 was always going to be tough. It was always going to require someone to play well. We had David who did that, but we probably needed someone else as well,” Bavuma concluded.
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