South Africa vs Australia, World Cup 2023: Aussies' record eighth final, David Warner joins elite list and more stats

Australia were made to sweat on Thursday as they overcame South Africa by three wickets in Kolkata to qualify for the 2023 Cricket World Cup final.

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The five-time champions will take on India in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Despite having restricted South Africa to 212, it was not an easy win for Australia by any means. In Australia’s reply, David Warner and Travis Head started strongly with a 60-run stand, but later on, Australia would find themselves in a spot of bother at 174/6.

Steve Smith steadied the ship with a 62-ball 30, but fall of regular wickets meant Australia had to rely on captain Pat Cummins (14*) and Mitchell Starc (16*) to seal the chase with 16 balls to spare.

Let’s now take a look at some stats and records that were broken in the match:

—Australia have qualified for their eighth World Cup final, which is a record in the history of the tournament. The next best are England and India with four World Cup final appearances, followed by West Indies and Sri Lanka (Three finals each)

—South Africa are joint-second in terms of most defeats in World Cup semi-finals. New Zealand (seven defeats) hold the record for this. India, Pakistan and South Africa are tied second on four defeats each in the semi-final stage.

—Australia’s three-wicket win was the lowest-ever win margin by a team in World Cup knockout games (in terms of wickets).

—With 20 wickets in 2023 World Cup, Gerald Coetzee became the top wicket-taker for South Africa in a single World Cup edition.

—South Africa’s Quinton de Kock has become the first wicketkeeper to score 500-plus runs and claim 20 dismissals in the single edition of a World Cup.

—David Warner became the second Australian to score 1,500 runs in the World Cup. Ricky Ponting, with 1,743 runs, is the only other Australian to have done so in the tournament.