South Africa have never before reached a Cricket World Cup final but will be using the Springboks as motivation on Thursday; they take on Australia in the second semi-final of the 2023 tournament - watch live on Sky Sports Cricket from 8am Thursday (8.30am first ball)
Thursday 16 November 2023 08:01, UK
Despite falling at the semi-final hurdle so many times before, South Africa believe they can change that fate when they face Australia on Thursday for a spot in the ICC Cricket World Cup Final, live on Sky Sports.
South Africa and Australia will be facing off for a chance to face hosts India in the final and bring home the biggest prize in ODI cricket, an opportunity which has come and gone for South Africa four times previously.
The opportunity to create history is not lost on South Africa captain Temba Bavuma as he looks to become the first captain to bring the trophy back to his nation.
Indeed the South Africa skipper is using the run of the Springboks in this year's Rugby World Cup, defeating France, England, and New Zealand on their way to World Cup glory as inspiration for his side to defy the odds.
"Yeah, definitely. I think to a large degree we look at them in awe and how they've gone about their back-to-back wins within the World Cup," said Temba.
"The way they won it this year with the knockout games being quite close - that resilience and how that 'do or die' attitude came through. That's what we've been speaking about as a team.
"When the crunch moment comes, when the pressure moments come, we come together as a team and we find a way to get over the line. We also accept that it's for us to control what we can control.
"We know what we'd like to look like. We want to be there [for the final], but for us to do that we have got to focus and deal with [the semi-final] as best as we can.
"With the way we've performed as a team it's obviously created a lot of positive sentiment but obviously high expectation.
"A lot of people believe that this could be the year that we see ourselves within the final.
"We'd like nothing better than that but we also respect the game of cricket. We're not coming up against a 'Mickey Mouse' team. Australia have a lot of experience and confidence in knockout games, so we've got to respect that.
"I'd hate to say we deserve to go through because of the way we played our cricket. I don't think that's the way things go. But from our performances, from the processes that we've followed, we'll continue to lean on that.
"We believe that will take care of the result."
Despite rallying his team, South Africa will make a late judgement over captain Bavuma's fitness, who admitted he was not 100 per cent fit for his side's World Cup semi-final showdown in Kolkata.
"Physically I feel alright," he said. "Obviously not 100 per cent. This day becomes important in terms of a decision about tomorrow. I'm quite confident but it's not a unilateral decision that will be made.
"I'm obviously a bit nervous of the game. It will be our first semi-final and as a team. But I think the feeling is no different I guess from any game that we've encountered within the World Cup.
"You want to treat it as just another game. It's something that I'll be looking forward to. It's something that I'll savour in that moment. I know it will mean a lot for family and people back home."
While South Africa are using the chance to make history as motivation, Australia captain Pat Cummins believes his side's experience in such high pressure situations should hopefully give them the edge.
With his side starting to "click", he believes the number of seasoned players in his team will know how to handle another big moment in their careers.
"I think what helps us is we've got a lot of guys that have been in this situation before, that have won the one-day World Cup, T20 World Cup, various other tournaments in big moments. We feel lucky we've been in these situations quite a bit," said Cummins.
"I think we've come a long way since the start of the tournament. We got better as a team since then.
"We are a bit more aggressive with our batting, we are taking the game on a bit more [and] with the bowling, I think we've just got better and better in all phases.
"We've obviously played a lot of cricket over the last month and it just feels like everyone knows their role and it's starting to click."
Watch South Africa take on Australia in the second Cricket World Cup semi-final, in Kolkata, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 8am on Thursday (8.30am first ball).
You can also stream without a contract through NOW.
Follow text commentary and in-play video clips of South Africa vs Australia via a live blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports App.
