David Miller remains 'clutch' as South Africa fail once again in an ICC knockout

David Miller's fighting century in the semi-final against New Zealand had no bearing on the match as South Africa crashed out of Champions Trophy on Wednesday, March 5. On Wednesday, Miller scored his 3rd 50+ score in an ICC ODI knockout match.

In Short

• South Africa lost to New Zealand by 50 runs in Champions Trophy semis
• David Miller's fighting hundred went in vain
• New Zealand scored 362 runs in the match

"We left too much for them in the end," said a dejected Temba Bavuma in the post-match interview on Wednesday, March 5. South Africa had just crashed out of the Champions Trophy 2025, losing to New Zealand by 50 runs while chasing a mammoth target of 363 runs in Lahore.

Bavuma, throughout his speech, blamed himself for not staying there long enough and scoring in triple digits, which could have given South Africa a chance in this mammoth chase. 363, while improbable, was never out of South Africa's range, given the incredible batting depth that they had. A third-string Australian team had chased down 352 runs against England in the group stage of the tournament with 15 balls to spare, and perhaps the same template could have been followed by South Africa to win the semi-final game.

Champions Trophy: South Africa vs New Zealand Highlights

"I do think it was above par. Probably if it was 350, we would have backed ourselves to chase the score. We had one or two partnerships today, but we needed me or Rassie to go on and emulate what two of their batters did. They really put us under pressure from the word go, the way they were able to pierce the off-side at the start and the way they played in the middle overs," Temba Bavuma said after the match on Wednesday.

What was the template that Australia followed to bury England's tricky bowling attack?

Start strong, have patience in the middle overs, and let it loose in the death overs. In that game, Matt Short and Marnus Labuschagne batted briskly at the top, and Josh Inglis put in absolute carnage at the death after being patient throughout the middle overs.

On Wednesday, in the semi-final of the tournament, South Africa were able to execute only one of those three things. And it was once again the 'clutch' David Miller who shined as the lone bright spot once again for South Africa in an ICC ODI knockout game.

When South Africa were crumbling in the middle overs and looking at a loss by a huge margin, Miller stayed patient and put in an exceptional show at the death, reaching his century in the final ball of the innings. The knock was once again a reminder to his compatriots of the ability he possessed with the bat and what the fortunes could have been for South Africa if he had some support in the final 10 overs of the match.

This was Miller's third 50+ score in an ICC ODI knockout game, and his second century in back-to-back semi-final games of an ICC ODI tournament.

David Miller in ICC ODI knockouts

• 56*(51) vs ENG, The Oval, CT 2013 SF
• 49(18) vs NZ, Auckland, CWC 2015 SF
• 101(116) vs AUS, Kolkata, CWC 2023 SF
• 100*(67) vs NZ, Lahore, CT 2025 SF

Bavuma reiterated his earlier comment, agreeing that too much was left for the final batters (Miller and the tail) in the end, and there was no way that South Africa could have chased this down unless one of the top-order batters would have stayed through and hit a hundred.

The skipper himself had a direct bearing on the match, hitting 56 runs off 71 balls, failing to make use of the first powerplay of the chase. Bavuma's slow knock had ripple effects on the rest of the South African batting, who crumbled between the 25th and 35th over due to the scoreboard pressure in the chase.

"Kudos to them, credit to their batters, Rachin and Williamson and even the batters who came in, Mitchell and Phillips. We were 125/1 and me and Rassie were still batting. Unfortunately, we weren't able to set that foundation for them. A bit of a soft dismissal for me and a better dismissal for Rassie and we left too much for them in the end. Like I said in the beginning, like I mentioned that we were 125/1, we had to be more decisive, not give an opportunity for the opposition to come back and be ruthless. We needed to take care of the key moments in the game," concluded the South African captain.

Yesterday was South Africa's 20th match in an ICC knockout game. The record, an unfortunate one, currently stands at 5 wins, 14 losses, and 1 tied game.

To date, South Africa has won one ICC tournament the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998.