Australia will take on India in Sunday’s World Cup final after edging South Africa in a nerve-wracking semi-final at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
The five-time winners will face the all-conquering hosts in Ahmedabad following a tense three-wicket win against the Proteas, who fought back hard after a calamitous start with the bat.
Captain Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc were the key figures in dragging Australia through, taking three wickets apiece in a pace bowling exhibition then coming together with bats in hand to negotiate a decisive eighth-wicket stand at the death.
South Africa had bossed this fixture a month ago in the group stages, winning by a huge 134-run margin, but appeared to be leaning into the reputation as knockout ‘chokers’ when they slumped to 24 for four in less than 12 overs.
A brilliant, defiant 101 from David Miller lifted the gloom and gave his side a total of 212 to bowl at before a wearing pitch offered enough encouragement to push Australia close.
Opener Travis Head carved 62 off the target at the top of the innings, but wickets fell regularly, with spin playing a major role, to leave a tricky path to the finish line.
Gerald Coetzee dismissed Steve Smith (30) and Josh Inglis (28) to leave Australia relying on their lower order, with Cummins and Starc up to the mark.
They put on 22 in 46 painstaking deliveries, with Cummins dropped by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock with nine still needed before slashing the winning boundary behind point.
Australia will now head to their eighth World Cup final, looking to upset an India team with a 100 percent record at their own tournament in a repeat of the 2003 showpiece.
South Africa captain Temba Bavuma had been a doubt for the match due to a hamstring strain and he may have been better off on the sidelines, nicking Starc behind to fall for a first-over duck.
If Bavuma’s departure was a setback then De Kock’s was a body blow. Trying to relieve the pressure of a relentless opening spell, he looked to blast Josh Hazlewood down the ground and was well held by a back-pedalling Cummins.
Australia’s strike pair did not loosen their grip, continuing after the poweplay and each picking up another of the dangerous top four.
Aiden Markram reached a touch when he drove at Starc and screwed a catch to backward point and, after scraping together six from 31 balls, Rassie van der Dussen was put out of his misery when he edged Hazlewood to slip.
A 40-minute rain delay allowed South Africa to regroup, with Heinrich Klaasen and Miller finally asserting some control.
They put on 95 to begin a rebuild, with Klaasen bowled through the gate by Head and Miller carrying on all the way to a fine ton.
He struck five sixes and eight fours along the way and was the penultimate man to fall as Cummins wrapped things up at the back end.
Australia’s chase began in a flurry of bravado, Head and David Warner blasting 60 off the first six overs. That tally included four sixes off the bat for Warner, with three in quick succession against a shellshocked Kagiso Rabada.
But South Africa scrapped back with regular wickets to stop Australia building any further momentum.
Markram bowled Warner with his first ball and Mitch Marsh was superbly caught by Van der Dussen for a duck.
Head, with 62, was the only player who looked truly fluent and he was bowled by a beauty from Keshav Maharaj as the ball ripped and gripped on a tough pitch.
With the turn making life treacherous, their trio of spinners shared figures of four for 89 off 28 overs, Tabraiz Shamsi bamboozling Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell.
Smith and Inglis both threatened to see things to the close, but the spirited Coetzee removed both to set up the last battle, Cummins and Starc nudging their way to victory despite a handful of dicey moments in a gripping conclusion.
