da apostaganha： Both scored centuries to power New Zealand to the highest total in Champions Trophy history, before Santner led an immaculate defence
da dobrowin： Firdose Moonda05-Mar-20251:51
What makes Ravindra such a standout player?
New Zealand are into their seventh ICC final and fourth in the ODI format after posting the highest score in Champions Trophy history and beating South Africa by 50 runs in their semi-final in Lahore. They will play India in Sunday’s final in Dubai on the back of a major confidence boost following their commanding win.Rachin Ravindra scored his fifth ODI hundred – all of them have come in ICC events – Kane Williamson racked up a third successive century against South Africa, and Daryl Mitchelocps://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/mitchell-santner-502714″>Mitchell Santner took 3 for 43, his wickets including those of South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma, their consistent No. 3 Rassie van der Dussen and their most destructive hitter Heinrich Klaasen, as New Zealand defended their score with aplomb and progressed to the final.Related
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The match was long over as a contest by the 47th over of South Africa’s chase, when David Miller was batting on 52 with only No. 11 Lungi Ngidi for company. But just enough time remained for Miller to farm the strike, face all 18 balls that remained, and reach a 67-ball century off the last ball of the match.This is the fifth semi-final that New Zealand have won at an ICC ODI event while South Africa have lost nine out of 11 (and only won one), and their search for a second major title after the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998 goes on.Much of the focus may be on South Africa’s batting given that they have not won any of the five semi-finals they have chased in, but this time they lost the game in the field. Their bowling effort was unusually off-colour as they failed to take advantage of early swing, bowled too many pace-on deliveries despite seeing the efficacy of pace-off, and they put down two catches. Lungi Ngidi was their best bowler with his steady selection of slower balls and picked up the early wicket of Will Young with the new ball and the important one of Mitchell with the older one, but both Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj went wicketless.Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra put on 164, the highest partnership for New Zealand in the Champions Trophy•ICC/Getty Images
Put simply, South Africa were no match for the combination of Ravindra and Williamson, the courageous and the calm, who shared in New Zealand’s highest Champions Trophy stand of 164 for the second wicket and complemented each other perfectly. Both may say they didn’t play their most fluent innings but they approached a flat pitch differently, especially in terms of the pace of their scoring, and kept South Africa guessing. Ravindra maintained a strike rate of more than 100 throughout his innings to keep pressure on the bowlers while Williamson took his time to get to his half-century (61 balls) before taking just 30 more deliveries to bring up his century.After winning the toss, Santner decided to bat first, in the hope that the breeze would negate the possibility of dew in the evening, and he could put scoreboard pressure on South Africa. He was right on both counts.New Zealand started streakily when Young edged Ngidi over Jansen at slip, but soon found their touch. Ravindra led the way with a takedown of Jansen’s short balls. He pulled a bumper through square leg and then hit him for three fours in his fourth over, through cover, midwicket and extra cover, leaving Jansen wondering which of the cutter, the full ball or the bouncer was his best option. Ngidi stemmed the tide when he had Young caught at mid-off and New Zealand ended the first powerplay on 56 for 1.Williamson scored 11 off his first 14 balls before Rabada bowled a stunning maiden over to him that constantly kept him on his toes with changes of pace and length, and Williamson was happy to bide time. Ravindra brought up his half-century off 47 balls in the 18th over, in which he hit Wiaan Mulder for three fours. South Africa had brought on Maharaj in the 17th and his first four overs were tight – he conceded just 14 runs – before Ravindra decided to take him on. He was not fully in control when he fetched Maharaj from outside off to hit through long-on but then charged and smashed a straight six next ball. That over cost 13 runs, and Maharaj’s next 12, and he was replaced by Ngidi, who almost made an important breakthrough.Williamson, on 56, slashed at the last ball of that over, Ngidi’s sixth, and got a healthy edge but Klaasen, diving one-handed to his right, could not hold on. Ngidi caused problems for Ravindra too and beat him outside off in his next over. He was on 97 and South Africa asked for a caught-behind review in vain. Ravindra went on to bring up his century off Rabada in the next over, off the 93rd ball he faced. New Zealand also brought up their 200 in that over, the 32nd, as Rabada went for 17 with Williamson changing gears.After a sedate start, Williamson was at his inventive best as he raced towards his hundred•Associated Press
He was on 80 off 77 balls when Ravindra was caught behind off Rabada, and took another 14 deliveries to get to his hundred with a ramp off Mulder. The same shot didn’t work later in the over, and Williamson was caught at short fine, but New Zealand had the platform to go big. They were 252 for 3 after 40 overs before Jansen and Rabada squeezed, bowling four overs for 27 runs and the wicket of Tom Latham.But then… carnage. Mitchell tonked Ngidi for a six and two fours, Phillips took four successive fours off Jansen’s penultimate over, and New Zealand were on their way. They scored 83 runs in the last six overs to cross 360 and leave South Africa with a mountain to climb.And at least one of them started the ascent slowly. When Ryan Rickelton was out for 17 off 11, Bavuma was batting on 3 off 17. He continued to labour, and moved to 10 off 24 before cutting loose. In the ninth over, he walked down the pitch to Matt Henry and hit over mid-off, and in the 10th, hooked Kyle Jamieson behind square for six. South Africa rescued the first powerplay and finished it on 56 for 1, exactly the same as New Zealand. With the in-form van der Dussen with him, Bavuma demonstrated an ability to kick on and the pair formed a dangerous combination.They took on the spinners, with both batters bringing up their fifties in successive Michael Bracewell overs, and their stand grew to 105 before Bavuma became Santner’s first victim. He tried to hit his counterpart over cover, but was undone by flight and miscued the ball to Kane Williamson at backward point. Still, South Africa were on track. New Zealand had been 143 for 1 at the halfway stage; South Africa were 143 for 2.But Santner was to have the decisive say. He bowled van der Dussen with a quicker one that straightened past his edge as he looked to work into the leg side, and then had Klaasen caught by Henry diving forward at long-on. Henry tumbled onto his right shoulder and left the field in some discomfort, which forced New Zealand to turn to Ravindra as a sixth bowler. It worked a charm when Aiden Markram popped a catch back to him that he took in front of his face.South Africa needed 170 runs from the last 15 overs with five wickets in hand, and ESPNcricnfo’s win predictor gave them less than 0.5% chance of winning. Even with Miller still at the crease, that seemed accurate. Miller batted to the end and brought up his seventh ODI century off the last ball of the match. His cradle celebration appeared to dedicate the knock to his one-month-old son Benji, but much like his century in the ODI World Cup semi-final in 2023, it might have left him feeling “a bit hollow.” South Africa may share that sentiment with another opportunity at a trophy gone, but for New Zealand, who last lifted an ICC ODI trophy in the year 2000, the dream is alive.
