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After Australia and India, if any team has shown dominance in the world of cricket in the last 3 years, it is South Africa. At the international level, the country’s men’s and women’s teams have reached the finals of 5 out of 7 ICC tournaments. Not only this, the men’s team also washed away the years-old stain of chokers by winning the final of the World Test Championship this year.
Now on November 2, South Africa will face home team India in the Women’s ODI World Cup final. Both the teams could never win the World Cup, but India Women had played the last ICC final 5 years ago. On the other hand, South Africa Women is going to play its third consecutive final in the ICC tournament.
Let us know in the story how South Africa will grow from 2023…
Part-1: South Africa’s men’s team
Netherlands out of T-20 World Cup
The South Africa team went through a very bad phase after losing the 2015 ODI World Cup semi-final to New Zealand. Till July 2023, there were 7 ICC tournaments and the team could not even enter the semi-final round, leave alone the final of any of them. South Africa had a golden opportunity to reach the knockout round in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
In Group-2, the team defeated Bangladesh and India. The match against Zimbabwe remained inconclusive. To reach the knockout, the team had to win only one of the last 2 matches against Pakistan and Netherlands. The team lost to Pakistan, but allowed Netherlands to score only 158 runs in the first innings.
South Africa had scored 87 runs after losing only 3 wickets in 12 overs. 72 runs were needed in 8 overs and 7 wickets were left. From here the team lost 5 wickets and could only reach the score of 145 runs in 20 overs. Netherlands won the match by 13 runs and eliminated South Africa from the World Cup.
Lost to Australia in ODI World Cup semi-finals
In 2023, South Africa returned from the ODI World Cup and entered the semi-finals by winning 7 out of 9 matches in the league stage. The team even defeated Australia in the round robin, against whom they now had their semi-final in Kolkata.
Batting first, South Africa won 7 matches in the entire tournament. He also got to bat first against Australia at Eden Gardens, but the rain had other plans. The sky became cloudy and the conditions became easy for bowling. The team lost 5 wickets for 24 runs.
Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller took the team beyond 100. Clawson was out after scoring 47 runs. After that, Miller was left alone, he scored a century, but could only take the team to 212. Australia also lost 7 wickets for 193 runs in front of a small target, but Mitchell Starc and captain Pat Cummins formed a partnership to take the team to the final.
Lost T-20 final against India
After a close defeat in the ODI World Cup, South Africa made a comeback in the T20 World Cup the very next year. The team defeated Afghanistan in the semi-finals and entered the finals. Where they faced India in Barbados.
Team India, who came to bat first, lost 3 wickets for 34 runs. From here Virat Kohli and Akshar Patel took over the team. Virat scored 76 and Akshar scored 47 runs, taking the team to 176. Against 177 runs, South Africa scored 147 runs in 15 overs.
Only 30 runs were needed from 30 balls, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller were on the pitch. From here Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya made India’s comeback. 16 runs were needed in the last over, Hardik gave only 8 runs and took the trophy away from South Africa. The very next year the team also lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy.
Become champion only by defeating Australia
The wait for South Africa, which has been waiting to become world champion for years, finally ended in 2025. The team won the series in Asian conditions and reached the final of the World Test Championship for the first time. The title match was played at The Lord’s Stadium in London.
Batting first, Australia scored 212 runs on a difficult pitch. In reply, South Africa could score only 138 runs. In the second innings, South Africa made a comeback and bowled out the Kangaroos for 207 runs. The team got the target of 282 runs, but by then the pitch had become easy for batting.
The pitch was conducive for batting, but South Africa had the tag of chokers and the record of never becoming world champion. The team also lost 2 wickets for 70 runs. From here Aiden Markram and captain Temba Bavuma took over the innings. Bavuma was out after scoring 66 runs, but took the team beyond 200. Markram scored 136 runs and the team won the Test Championship by losing 5 wickets. This was the first time that South Africa had become world champion in any format.
Part-2: South Africa’s women’s team
England defeated in ODI World Cup semi-finals
After returning to international cricket, South Africa Women played their first ICC semi-final in the 2017 ODI World Cup, but the team lost to England. In 2022, once again England reached the semi-finals, here too they were defeated and eliminated by England. This time the team lost by a huge margin of 137 runs.
Lost the final first to Australia, then to New Zealand
South Africa made a comeback in the T20 World Cup of 2023 and 2024. Both times the team reached the finals, but lost the title match to Australia in 2023 and New Zealand in 2024. In 2023, the team had to face a close defeat by 19 runs on its home ground.
Even score with England; Reached third consecutive final
After losing two consecutive finals, South Africa entered the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup semi-finals. In the league stage, the team lost 2 matches against England and Australia. Both the times the team could not even score 100 runs while batting first. England had bowled them out for 69.
After the match, South African captain Laura Wolvaardt said that they are not a team to be all out for 69 runs. In the semi-finals, captain Wolvaardt took the reins and single-handedly scored 169 runs. On the basis of his innings, the team scored 319 runs and defeated England by 125 runs and entered the third consecutive ICC final.
Title clash with them in India’s home ground
South Africa Women will now play the World Cup final against them on November 2 on India’s home ground. 34 ODI matches were played between the two teams, India won 20 and South Africa won 13.
Before the tournament, India had defeated South Africa in 5 consecutive ODIs, but the team leveled the score in the league stage and defeated India Women by 3 wickets. On the other hand, India chased the biggest target in ODI history in the semi-finals against 7-time champion Australia and entered the final. The match will be played at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. It will be important to see which team becomes world champion for the first time.
