New Zealand 221-8 (Ryder 83, Morkel 3-46) beat South Africa 172 (Kallis 45, Oram 4-39) by 49 runs.

On paper it looked to be the most mismatched of all four quarter finals. The best balanced side in the tournament, with what was unmistakeably the best bowling line up, against a team who had confident wins against Pakistan and Zimbabwe but failed against Sri Lanka and Australia. Ross Taylor’s blazing century against Pakistan aside, there was little to suggest that this Black Caps side was poised to set the tournament alight.

Saturday 12 March was exactly five years to the day since South Africa completed that run chase against Australia. The ghost of 438-9 past came to visit the India and Proteas clash in Nagpur as the World Cup continued to entertain while supporters continued to age about 10 year. Omens all-round.

India won the toss and chose to bat. No surprises, really. And, as expected, it was the Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar show as the two combined for a first-wicket partnership of 142. Tendulkar notched up his 99th international hundred (that’s in both Tests and ODIs).

The Proteas went into the final ODI at SuperSport Centurion on the back of fantastic support by the South African public. Every ODI in this series has been played in front of capacity crowd and the Centurion fans maintained this form with a sell out of 20 000 spectators.

The pressure was on the Proteas and Graeme Smith as this was both his last home ODI as captain and the last ODI for the team ahead of the world cup.

Sold out on the round about

Driving around Ring Street for the 3rd time I eventually found parking, this is the normal procedure when visiting St Georges Park with sold out seating. The weather was awesome aside from a moderate breeze and the line by the entrance was already extending out onto the street...this match was going to be a cracker!

Power Play!?

With the one day international series between South Africa and India level at one-all, Nelwands was set for a cracking contest and, as usual, it didn’t disappoint.

Whatever their excuses were for leaving work early, the Newlands faithful turned up in their masses to support the Proteas and hopefully see the Proteas grab a series lead in the process.

GRAEME SMITH TO CUT BACK LEADERSHIP ROLE

18 August, 2010

GRAEME SMITH announced on Wednesday his intention to stand down as national captain of the Standard Bank Pro20 International squad with immediate effect and as captain of the Standard Bank ODI squad at the conclusion of the 2011 ICC World Cup next year.

He will remain captain of the Castle Test squad and will be available for selection for the Proteas in all three formats of the game.