South Africa wnet through to the semi-final stage of the Championship with the following scores in mind:-
Sri Lanka = lost by 5 runs
New Zealand = Won by 2 runs
Netherlands = Won by 5 runs
England = Won by 3 runs
Each of the above wins were characterized by narrow margins and most of the players not performing up to acceptable standards. In between there were brilliant individual performances that were the reasons for the wins. Here we must mention Dale Steyn, and Imran Tahir as bowlers and Duminy, Amla and AB de Villiers as batters.
Maybe it is these brilliant performances that ultimately won T20 games as was pointed out by the various commentators.
One wonders what will happen if the team as a whole up their game in the semi-finals. Our opponents will be India in the semi and we have beaten them convincingly in the previous series of ODI's - but that was on SA pitches - not on Sub-continent ones. I still think if all the players up their game - we can win that one as well. But then there are various factors to bear in mind. We need in the first instance for a change win of the toss - we have not won once since the start of the series - and bowl first. Later in the evening the dew causes havoc for bowlers and makes it very difficult for them to grip the ball.
Lets hope for the best.
