Australia faced New Zealand yesterday in the final of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy at Supersport Park in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa. Australia beat England and New Zealand beat Pakistan in respective semi-final matches to reach the final of the tournament. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. The Black Caps were in trouble in the 27th over of their innings, only managing 94 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. The Australians restricted them to 200 for the loss of 9 wickets (not a very defendable total). New Zealand’s highest scoring batsmen in the match was Martin Guptill who managed to score 40 runs. Neil Broom achieved a career-best total of 37 runs. Even though they managed to bat through their 50 overs, I’m sure that the Black Caps probably wanted a higher score to defend against Australia.

Australia came in to bat. 2 early Australian wickets put the team in trouble at 6 runs for the loss of 2 wickets after the 3rd over. Kyle Mills and Shane Bond were responsible for the 2 wickets. Australia only managed 37 runs in the first 16 overs of their innings. White (who later survived a dropped catch with his total on 15) joined opening batsmen Shane Watson (who scored 136 not out against England in the semi-final) and brought stability back to the Australian innings. White eventually scored 62 runs. Watson stayed on till the end of the innings and scored 105 not out. Australian achieved a comfortable 6 wicket victory over New Zealand in the 45th over of the match. Shane Watson was named the Man of the Match. Australian captain Ricky Ponting was named as the player of the series. Australia successfully defended their ICC Champions Trophy title.

It would’ve been interesting if South Africa wasn’t knocked out in the early stages of the tournament. Hopefully the Proteas will perform better in the upcoming series against England. I just hate the fact they have a tendency to choke in big tournaments, a reason why I don’t watch cricket in the pubs anymore.

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South Africa faced England in their last match of the group stage of the ICC Champions Trophy. The Proteas had a chance of making it in the semi-final for the tournament, but lost by 22 runs at Supersport Park, Centurion in Gauteng. England batted first, racking up a total of 332 for the loss of 8 wickets. Collingwood was the 2nd highest scoring batsmen for England, knocking 82 runs off 94 balls before being dismissed by Wayne Parnell. Shah was the best batsmen for England hitting 98 runs off 89 balls. Johan Botha dismissed Shah, he was caught behind by Mark Boucher. On the bowling side, Wayne Parnell managed to get 3 wickets for South Africa. Johan Botha picked up 2 wickets.

South Africa came in to bat, chasing the biggest total ever at Supersport Park, but once again choked under pressure from a very well disciplined English team. At least South African captain Graeme Smith finally found some form, scoring 141 runs off 134 balls. AB De Villiers was the 2nd highest scoring South African batsmen, only managing 36 runs off 41 balls. Minor contributions by Gibbs (22), Kallis (12), JP Duminy (24), Mark Boucher (8) and Morkel (17) wasn’t really instrumental into helping South Africa reach the target quicker. Broad and Anderson each took 3 wickets for England. Shah was named as the man of the match. Some people might say that the Proteas are continuing the old trend of “choking” in big matches. One could also argument that South African Cricket is in a transformation stage. New, unexperienced players are coming in it will be a while before the Proteas are on top form again. I don’t go pub crawling to watch them play any more, since I can’t handle the disappointment of South Africa losing yet another big game. Well done to the Proteas for trying harder than usual. In my opinion, this was just a case of South Africa being outplayed by England, pure and simple.

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After suffering a 55 run defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka earlier in the week, the South African national cricket team have bounced back with a 5 wicket victory over New Zealand at Supersport Park in Centurion yesterday. New Zealand were sent in to bat first after South Africa won the toss and decided to have a bowl first. New Zealand did not manage to bat through their allowed 50 overs and were bowled out for 214 runs in the 48th over. Wayne Parnell was the Proteas best bowler for South Africa, taking 5 wickets for 57 runs (a bit expensive but not bad at all for a 19 year old). Ross Taylor was the Black Caps’ best batsman, scoring 72 runs off 106 balls.

After the lunch interval South Africa began their batting innings. Graeme Smith, the SA captain was dismissed in the 6th over. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis put up a 2nd wicket partnership of 52 runs. Kallis was caught behind off the bowling of Shane Bond and managed to score 36 runs off 39 balls. South African lost the wickets of Amla and JP Duminy in quick succession and were on 138 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the 27th over. AB De Villiers and Mark Boucher managed to restore order and put up a 5th wicket partnership of 42 runs. Boucher was caught behind off the bowling of Daryl Tuffey and South Africa were on 180 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. AB De Villiers was joined by Albie Morkel and they closed the deal with an unbeaten 6th wicket partnership of 37 runs off 32 balls. Albie Morkel was responsible for 19 of those runs.

This was much better play by the Proteas and a well-deserved victory indeed. South Africa face England in their next match in the ICC Champions Trophy on the 27th of September at Supersport Park. This promises to be an interesting match. England face Sri Lanka today in the their first match of the tournament. It seems that Gauteng province is the place to be for International cricket this week, if you can find a ticket, most of the games are sold out.

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The South African Cricket Team, commonly known as the Proteas lost their opening match against Sri Lanka in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament yesterday. The match was played at Supersport Park, Centurion in Gauteng. The Proteas had to reach the target of 320 runs (set by Sri Lanka). When the first summer rains of the region stopped play, the Proteas had only managed to reach 206 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. The Duckworth Lewis system was applied and South Africa lost the match by 55 runs. It seems that the Proteas “choked” again. Why is it that we always play our worst cricket when it comes to International tournaments like this one and the Cricket World Cup? Once again a South African sports team has put itself under pressure. Some of my friends have stopped watching cricket for this reason. The Proteas have to win their 2 upcoming games (against New Zealand and England) to reach the semi finals of the ICC Champions Trophy. Let’s hope that this was a once off “choke” and that South Africa live up to their current #1 World Ranking.

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The ICC Champions Trophy is a One Day International cricket tournament, second in importance only to the Cricket World Cup. The tournament was inaugurated as the ICC Knock Out tournament in 1998. Since then it has been played every 2 years. The tournament underwent a name change in 2002 and is known as the Champions Trophy since then. Previous ICC Champions Trophy competitions have been hosted by Bangladesh (in 1998), Kenya (in 2000), Sri Lanka (in 2002), England (in 2004), India (in 2006). Pakistan was supposed to be the host country for the competition in 2008. Security constraints led to the tournament being postponed to October 2009. Security concerns by some participating countries has led to the tournament venue being changed to South Africa. The ICC Champions Trophy will be held in South Africa from the 22nd of September until the 5th of October 2009. 2 venues will be used in the ICC Champions Trophy, the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg and Supersport Park in Centurion. The world’s top 8 nations in cricket will compete in the ICC Champions Trophy. The nations will be split up into 2 groups of 4 nations. Group A will be made up out of Australia, India, Pakistan and the West Indies. Group B will be made up out of South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England.

Here’s a list of fixtures for the ICC Champions Trophy:

• 22 Sept 2009 – Centurion – South Africa vs Sri Lanka – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 23 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers - Pakistan vs West Indies – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 24 Sept 2009 – Centurion – South Africa vs New Zealand – 09h30 – Day
• 25 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – England vs Sri Lanka – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 26 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – West Indies vs Australia – 09h30 – Day
• 26 Sept 2009 – Centurion - India vs Pakistan – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 27 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – New Zealand vs Sri Lanka – 09h30 – Day
• 27 Sept 2009 – Centurion – South Africa v England – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 28 Sept 2009 – Centurion - Australia vs India – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 29 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – England vs New Zealand – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 30 Sept 2009 – The Wanderers – India vs West Indies – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 30 Sept 2009 – Centurion – Australia vs Pakistan – 09h30 – Day
• 2 Oct 2009 – The Wanderers – A1 vs B2 – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 3 Oct 2009 – Centurion – B1 v A2 – 14h30 – Day / Night
• 5 Oct 2009 – Centurion – Final – Day / Night

South Africa have only won the ICC Champions Trophy once, in 1998 in Bangladesh. The Proteas are very determined to add this year’s trophy to their collection. The South African Cricket Team have failed to be victorious in the last 5 Cricket World Cups and the last 2 T20 World Cups. Hopefully this year the Proteas can add the ICC Champions Trophy (nicknamed the mini World Cup) to their collection. Guess I’ll have to look for some tickets for sale and go check out the ICC Champions Trophy. Let’s hope the Proteas make South Africa proud.

Related Links:
Mickey: Proteas Want The Trophy – Sport24
Arthur: We’re the best – Sky Sports
The new team to beat – Mail & Guardian
SA Cricket – Official Website
Cricket – Supersport

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• September 14, 2009 -- Springboks clinch 3rd Tri-Nations victory (0)
• September 7, 2009 -- Wallabies bring Springboks down to earth in Brisbane (0)
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• November 17, 2009 -- France teach Springboks a lesson (0)