ODI World Cup 2023, 2nd Semi-Final, AUS vs SA Stats Review: David Miller's feat, Glenn Maxwell's poor record against SA and other stats

Five-time champion Australia survived the Protea scare as they defeated them by a margin of three wickets in an exciting second Semi-Final of the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata. Chasing a target of just 213, Pat Cummins and his side completed the chase in 47.2 overs as they now set up a thrilling mega-final encounter with the host nation, India on Sunday, November 19, in Ahmedabad.

Speaking about how the game unfolded, skipper Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to bat first. The top four of the African batters got dismissed cheaply as Quinton de Kock and Bavuma scored three and zero respectively while Rassie van der Dussen got dismissed for just six. Aiden Markram amassed ten but it was Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller who steadied the ship.

The former racked up 47 off just 48, while Miller smashed a brilliant century (101 off 116) which included eight fours and five maximums, respectively. Courtesy of his knock, the Proteas managed to reach a total of 212 in 49.4 overs. Mitchell Starc and Cummins picked up three wickets apiece for the Aussies. In reply, David Warner played a cameo of 29 off 18 while Travis Head looked in a hurry.

He slammed 62 off 48 which included nine fours and two sixes. What looked like an easy victory for the Australians turned out to be a thrilling affair as the Aussies lost seven wickets for 193 runs. Starc and Cummins then remained not out on 16 and 14 runs, respectively, as they guided their side to yet another ODI World Cup Final.

The African bowlers fought hard for a win but couldn’t quite restrict the Kangaroos from reaching their target. For his quickfire half-century right at the top of the order, Head won the Player of the Match award. It’s an India vs Australia World Cup Final on a blockbuster Sunday, as one of the oldest and greatest rivals gears up for a mouth-watering summit clash.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 2^nd Semi-Final between Australia and South Africa in the ODI World Cup 2023:

3 – David Warner became the third player to score 500-plus runs in two or more World Cup editions. The left-handed batter also did the job in the previous edition in 2019 in England. The other two are Sachin Tendulkar (1996 and 2003) and Rohit Sharma (2019 and 2023).

3 – David Miller is now tied with Quinton de Kock and Herschelle Gibbs in the second spot for hitting three centuries for South Africa against Australia in ODIs.  Faf du Plessis is at the top for slamming five tons.

138 – Miller has now smashed the second-most sixes (138) for South Africa in ODIs. He surpassed Jacques Kallis’s tally of 137 maximums. AB de Villiers tops the chart with 200 sixes.

9.07 – Glenn Maxwell has managed to score only 127 runs in 14 innings at a poor average of just 9.07 and with the best score of 35 against South Africa in the 50-over format.

15 – Keshav Maharaj is now joint-top with Imran Tahir and Robin Peterson for picking up the most wickets (15) by a South African spinner in a World Cup season. Tahir also took 15 scalps in the year 2015 while Peterson did the job in 2011.

8 – The Aussies have now qualified for an ODI World Cup Final for the eighth time.

3 – Destructive left-hander Miller is now joint-third with de Villiers, Eoin Morgan, Sikandar Raza, and Andrew Symonds for smashing six hundred at no. five or below in the ODI format. India’s pair of MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh are joint-second with seven centuries. Jos Buttler leads the chart with eight tons to his name.

101 – Miller has now registered the highest individual score of 101 for the Proteas in a World Cup Knock-out game. Previously, du Plessis played a knock of 82 against New Zealand in the 2015 Semi-Final in Auckland.