I drove down to the family weekend house on a Thursday afternoon, the night before there was an amazing semi final between cup hosts India and New Zealand. As an Aussie, New Zealand is my second team that I support, so I was pretty happy to see them at the knockout phase of the tournament. 

I work from home on a Friday so  I knocked off work at the usual time and I have to stop at the supermarket to purchase my weekend food. Apparently South Africa won the toss decided to bat first, I was not aware of this yet though. I switched the television on and could not believe what I was seeing. South Africa were 4/64 after 19 overs. The run rate was 3.00, but Klaasen and Miller were still at the crease so they were not finished yet. 

After 25 overs, or the halfway point of their innings South Africa were 4/84 with a slightly better run rate of a pedestrian  3.16, highly unusual for a semi final. South Africa has never progressed past a semi final in a world cup – not ever. Their nemesis has been Australia, even though the players have changed over the years, the mental anguish  of choking on the big stage is in their minds.

Adam Zampa was going for 8.00 per over, Glen Maxwell at the other end was bowling tight. The commentators were calling for a change so on comes Travis Head. Trav went for a couple of boundaries for his first ball, then a dot ball with the 4th ball of his first over saw the dangerous Klaasen’s leg stump knocked over. This could be the breakthrough Australia needed, this was the partnership that had the potential to rescue South Africa. 

Then Jansen comes to the crease, the first ball hits his pads and an appeal, sees the umpire lift his finger. Klaasen and Miller meet in the middle of the wicket, the pair decides to challenge the decision, I don’t see why, he was out. So after the third umpire fails to overturn the original decision, Travis Head is about to bowl the final ball of his first over and is on a hat trick. Coetzee survives, but South Africa is in real trouble, they are about to fail again in a semi final.