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'Nothing Even Close To A Choke': South Africa Coach Walter Reflects On Semis Loss to Australia

image-lp224s1iSouth Africa lost to Australia in the CWC 23 semi-final [X.com]

South Africa's shot at a World Cup title will have to wait after being beaten by Australia in a low-scoring ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semi-final at Eden Gardens in Kolkata last evening. 

Opting to bat under overcast conditions, South Africa's top order collapsed under pressure and were helped by David Miller (101) and Heinrich Klaasen (47), who enabled their side to post a sub-par 212.

A brisk start by Travis Head and David Warner put Australia in the driver's seat, before the likes of Gerald Coetzee, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Keshav Maharaj pulled things back, and took the match as deep as the 47th over, where Pat Cummins and Co. eventually crossed the finished line, clinching the match by three wickets. 

Labeled as 'Chokers', the Proteas have been unable to get past the semi-final stage in the World Cup as many as five times and have failed to qualify for the final. 

However, in the post-match press conference, Proteas white-ball head coach Rob Walter has rubbished talks about 'choking' against Australia. As quoted by India Today, Walter lauded his side's comeback ability across the semi-final in both departments batting and bowling, refuting any claims of choking under stress. 

Here's what Walter said

“I guess you need to define what a choke is. For me, a choke is losing a game that you're in a position to win. In this instance, we were behind the eight ball right from the word go and we actually fought our way back into the competition and put up a score that gave us a chance and then again they got off to a flyer and we fought and we put ourselves back into the game.

“So for me there's nothing even remotely close to a choke that happened out there today. It's a serious contest between two good teams, number two and three in the tournament. Today, I don't think anyone could watch and say it wasn't through lack of effort. I don't think anyone could say the guys didn't back themselves, they didn't back each other,” 

Meanwhile, Australia will take on hosts India in the final of the World Cup 2023 on Sunday at Ahmedabad.