South Africa's David Miller scored an unbeaten century in a losing cause against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final. (Photo: AP)
South Africa’s lone warrior in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final against New Zealand in Lahore, David Miller, lashed out at the ICC over scheduling after the Proteas were knocked out of the tournament following a 50-run loss on Wednesday.
The strange schedule of the Champions Trophy led both Australia and South Africa to travel to Dubai from Pakistan after the group stage to prepare for the potential semi-final clash against India.
But when the Rohit Sharma men beat the Kiwis in their last group game, setting up a semi-final clash with Australia, the South African team had to fly back to Pakistan for their semi-final match against New Zealand.
“It’s only an hour and 40 minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that was not ideal,” Miller said after South Africa’s exit from the tournament. The South African team left for Dubai from Karachi on Sunday afternoon and was back in Lahore on Monday.
“It’s early morning, it’s after a game and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm. And at 7.30 am we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice. It’s not like we flew five hours, and we had enough time to recover and recuperate, but it was not an ideal situation still,” he said.
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Miller scored an unbeaten 67-ball century, consisting of 10 fours and four sixes, but it went in vain after South Africa fell short by 50 runs chasing a Champions Trophy record total of 363 runs.
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner claimed three scalps as Kiwi tweakers shared seven out of nine wickets in the game.
The 35-year-old South African believe that the wicket deteriorated as the game went on. “It’s not easy chasing 360 even if it’s a good wicket. I think the wicket just deteriorated as the game went on and they spun the ball a lot more than us. It’s just they got a little bit more purchase out of the wicket,” said Miller.
Earlier, Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson’s centuries guided New Zealand to post the highest total (362/6) in the Champions Trophy.
Miller also backed New Zealand to beat India in the final. “I’ll be honest with you, I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand,” he said.
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