AUS-C vs SA-C Review | Van Wyk and Parnell guide SA Champs to their maiden WCL 2025 Final
South Africa Champions held their nerve to beat Australia Champions by a narrow margin of one run in a thrilling semi-final of the World Championship of Legends 2025. The Proteas made it to the final of the tournament for the first time, where they will face the Pakistan Champions for the title.
SA Champions’ skipper AB de Villiers won the toss and decided to bat first at Edgbaston in Birmingham. They faced the first blow when in-form de Villiers was dismissed after scoring just six runs. Following an early loss, JJ Smuts and wicketkeeper-batter Morne van Wyk stabilized the innings for SA Champs with a crucial 111-run partnership for the second wicket. In the 12th over, Dan Christian provided a big breakthrough to Australia Champs, dismissing Smuts (57). However, van Wyk continued to contribute with his blistering approach, hitting 76 runs off just 35 balls. He smashed seven fours and five sixes during his knock to score the runs with a swashbuckling strike rate of 217.14. Furthermore, JP Duminy (14) and Henry Davids (11 off 11 balls) played small but crucial knocks to help the side post 186/8 in the allotted 20 overs. Peter Siddle ended up with outstanding bowling figures for Australia, bagging four wickets for 30 runs in his four overs. D’Arcy Short also picked two wickets, alongside a wicket each from skipper Brett Lee and Dan Christian.
Australia Champions were off to a quick start with openers Shaun Marsh and Chris Lynn adding 45 runs in just 4.3 overs. In the fifth over of the Aussie innings, Lynn (35) was caught by Hardus Viljoen off Wayne Parnell’s bowling. Parnell gave another blow to Aussies in the eighth over, dismissing Marsh (25) by getting him caught by de Villiers. D’Arcy Short stayed there and stitched two crucial partnerships with Ben Dunk and Dan Christian before falling prey to Hardus Vijoen in the 16th over of the innings. Short’s 33-run knock was followed by Dan Christian’s blistering, unbeaten 49 runs off just 29 balls. But these contributions were not enough for the Aussies to chase the target, and they fell short by two runs, scoring 185/7 in 20 overs. Wayne Parnell and Hardus Viljoen bagged two wickets each for SA Champs, with support from Imran Tahir and Duanne Oliver, who got a wicket each.
The SA Champs’ pacer Wayne Parnell won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match-winning bowling performance, dismissing both openers of the Aussie champs during the run chase.
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