South Africa Champions defeated Australia Champions by one run in a close thriller during the second semi-final match of the ongoing World Championship of Legends 2025 held at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday, 31 July.
Opting to bat first, South Africa set a 187-run target for the Aussies, which they failed to achieve, and AB de Villiers' Proteas entered the final of the tournament.
Playing XIs
South Africa Champions: AB de Villiers(c), JJ Smuts, Jacques Rudolph, Sarel Erwee, Jean-Paul Duminy, Henry Davids, Morne van Wyk(w), Wayne Parnell, Hardus Viljoen, Aaron Phangiso, Duanne Olivier
Australia Champions: Shaun Marsh, Chris Lynn, D Arcy Short, Ben Dunk(w), Daniel Christian, Callum Ferguson, Ben Cutting, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Siddle, Brett Lee(c), Steve O'Keefe
Australia Champions Impact Subs: Rob Quiney
South Africa Champions Impact Subs: Imran Tahir
South Africa Champions Vs Pakistan - Live Streaming Details
The South Africa Champions vs Pakistan Champions, WCL 2025 Final match will be live-streamed on the FanCode app and website in India.
De Villiers lost his wicket in the second over when Peter Siddle got him caught out by D'Arcy Short. He made six runs off four deliveries. JJ Smuts (57 off 41 balls) and Morne van Wyk (76 runs off 35 balls) added 111 runs for the second wicket.
Sarel Erwee, JP Duminy and Henry Davids tried to accelerate the innings but failed, and South Africa Champions could only make 186 runs in 20 overs.
Siddle was the outstanding bowler for Australia, taking four wickets. Short also took a couple of wickets, whereas Brett Lee and Daniel Christian shared one wicket each.
In response, Shaun Marsh and Chris Lynn started well and added 45 runs for the first wicket. Short also added 33 runs off 29 balls. But Australian batters failed to accelerate their batting in the middle overs.
21 runs were needed in the last two overs, and Imran Tahir came to bowl the 19th over. He conceded just seven runs and also took the crucial wicket of Callum Ferguson.
Now, 14 runs were required in the last over and Rob Quiney came to bat with the set batter Dan Christian. Wayne Parnell came to bowl and started the over with a six. Then he conceded five runs in his next four deliveries. Quiney retired hurt on the fifth delivery, and Nathan Coulter-Nile replaced him at the crease.
Christian was on strike, and he needed to make three runs to win the match for Australia. But Parnell conceded only a single, and Coulter-Nile lost his wicket while trying for the double. South Africa won the match by one run. Parnell was awarded the Player of the Match.
Now, South Africa will clash with Pakistan in the final scheduled for Saturday, 2 August at the same venue. India refused to play with Pakistan in the semi-final, and Pakistan entered the final after India's pull-out from the tournament.
