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South Africa could only manage to reach 212 runs in the first innings of the semi-final match of the 2023 World Cup against Australia on Thursday (November 16) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Their skipper, Temba Bavuma, won the toss and opted to bat first. It proved to be a mistake in hindsight as Australian pacers wreaked havoc with the new ball in cloudy conditions to reduce South Africa to 24/4 inside 12 overs.
All the top-order batters, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram were back in the hut, leaving their side in a heap of trouble.
Heinrich Klaasen (47) and David Miller (101) arrested the flow of wickets with their 95-run partnership for the 5th wicket. Just as they started to look threatening, part-time spinner Travis Head cleaned up Klaasen in the 31st over to dash South Africa's hopes of reaching a good total.
David Miller rallied along with the lower-order batters and completed a magnificent century to help South Africa to a respectable total in the end.
Fans enjoyed the low-scoring first innings of the encounter between South Africa and Australia. They reacted by sharing hilarious memes on social media.
Here are some of the best memes:
"I thought we fought hard at the end there to get a decent score"- South Africa batter David Miller after 1st innings vs Australia
At the mid-innings break, Proteas batter David Miller opined that his side fought well and managed to get some runs on the board to have a fighting chance in the contest. Reflecting on the first innings, Miller said:
"Ultimately you want to win at the end of the day. Really glad to get a hundred here but only half the game is done. I thought we fought hard at the end there to get a decent score.
"We knew it was going to be a bit slow and turn. But four down early in the powerplay, we were always on the back foot.
Shedding light on his thought process while batting with Klaasen and Coetzee, Miller added:
"I stuck at it with Klaasy and forged a partnership towards the end there with Gerald. At that position you're behind the eight-ball so it's just about staying in the moment, watching every ball, trusting your preparation that you've had leading into this and you keep edging away one run at a time. Just one ball at a time really. I think it's a defendable score, it's just about executing our plans and using the surface."
Do you think the Proteas team can defend the low target? Let us know in the comments section.
