Proteas deny Australia top spot with Old Trafford win [highlights]

The Proteas recorded a 10 run win over Australia at Old Trafford to deny Aaron Finch’s side top spot and a semi-final date with New Zealand.

Australia will face England at Edgbaston on Thursday after they ended second on the World Cup table, India face New Zealand on Tuesday at Old Trafford.

South Africa’s final log position was a disappointing seventh, hampered by a poor start with bat and ball.

In their final game, the top order finally found form with Faf du Plessis smashing 100, a knock that would earn him the man of the match award.

He was assisted by Rassie van der Dussen, who took some time to get going but would accelerate and power the Proteas beyond 300. He would hole out on 95 looking for a big shot off the final ball of the South Africa innings.

A day that started with Australia in a great position turned into a rough day at the office for them. Finch couldn’t handle Imran Tahir, playing his final ODI, then Usman Khawaja had to retire hurt, after his difficulty running nearly cost David Warner his wicket.

Warner held the effort together but as wickets tumbled at the other end, the pressure built on the resurgent opener. He tried to chip Dwaine Pretorius over mid-on but didn’t get the lift thanks to a flying Chris Morris. Warner went for 122 leaving Australia 227 for five needing 99 runs to win with 65 balls remaining.

Alex Carey played a brilliant 85 that gave Australia hope of hauling in the total but he picked out the sweeper at the outset of the 46th over and the Proteas would shut out the defence. Khawaja returned but his efforts would be in vain.

Andile Phehlukwayo took the final wicket after Kagiso Rabada (3/56) had cleaned up Mitchell Starc and Khawaja. Earlier in the day, Starc took two wickets to equal Glenn McGrath’s World Cup wicket record.

Du Plessis admitted the team’s performance had been below par at the tournament but he was thrilled to do a favour for India.

“Always a pleasure playing against Australia and a nice, close game,” Du Plessis said after the match.

“We at least wanted to end with a small smile. Rassie’s innings was a great example for young batters. He was on 5 off 30 balls or something but hung in there. To hang in a period shows maturity.”

Proteas skipper bids farewell to stars

Du Plessis bid farewell to JP Duminy and Tahir who played their final ODIs for South Africa. Tahir will continue to play T20Is until after the 2020 T20 World Cup, Duminy has retired from international cricket altogether.

“They’re champion human beings. Immy is like the heartbeat of the team and JP is the father figure of the team and we will miss them. But extremely happy that we can send greats like that with wins

“When you score big runs, you give your bowlers a chance. Today we saw KG back at his best. We’ve been batting well, was just that we didn’t convert into big scores. With the ball, we didn’t have guys with four of five-fors like Starc. Inconsistent cricket, we had to be at our best for most of the tournament. If you’re not, you need guys to lift the team on their own, we had guys not doing enough to get over the line. Do like playing against Australia, have tried to figure out why I bat nicely when I play them as compared to the other teams.”

Du Plessis backed India to go on to win the World Cup feeling that they would likely meet England in the final.

“I think India would be very happy we won today, looking at NZ’s form last three games – dipping a little bit. I’ll probably say India v England final. I think India and Australia are teams play big games very well, I’ll back one of them in the biggest stage of them all.”