Cricket: South Africa into semis after Windies tie

South Africa advanced into the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy on superior net run-rate after their rain-marred match against the West Indies in Cardiff on Friday ended in a tie.

The West Indies, who had to win this match to go through to the last four, were exactly level on the Duckworth/Lewis system for rain-affected matches at 190 for six off 26.1 overs when Australian umpires Rod Tucker and Steve Davis decided the rain was too heavy to continue and took the players off the field for the final time at 7.43pm local time (1843 GMT).

Crucially, shortly before play was abandoned, with West Indies then ahead of their D/L target, Kieron Pollard was caught for 28 by Dale Steyn at third man off Ryan McLaren and his exit swung the match back to parity.

South Africa made 230 for six off their 31 overs, leaving the West Indies a target of 231 in 31 to win.

The Proteas joined already-qualified India as one of the two semi-finalists from Group B.

For South Africa, often dubbed ‘chokers’ for throwing away promising positions, this result was in marked contrast to their 1999 World Cup semi-final tie with Australia at Edgbaston, which saw them go out following a pool loss to the Aussies, and their exit from the 2003 World Cup on home soil when a failure to correctly interpret the D/L sheet saw them tie with Sri Lanka, rather than win, in Durban.

Brief scores

South Africa 230-6, 31 overs (C Ingram 73)

West Indies 190-6, 26.1 overs

Result: Match tied, South Africa into semi-finals on superior net run-rate