Two old foes South Africa and Australia faced each other at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester on Saturday where South Africa snatched a dramatic 10-runs victory over their arch-rival. This match also marked the ending of two Proteus players JP Duminy and Imran Tahir. Australia, who booked their semi-final spot long ago, down to the second position at point table while India leapfrogs at first position after beating Sri Lanka.

Faf du Plessis is happy to tribute JP Duminy and Imran Tahir with a win

South Africa already out of the tournament but they end their World Cup journey by keeping their head high. This was also the last match of Proteus duo JP Duminy and Imran Tahir. South African skipper Faf du Plessis, who was also selected as ”Man of the Match”, hailed the win and tribute this win to them.

This is the tournament where I felt like I am consistently to hit the ball well and I wasn’t able to go for a big score. It’s a great pleasure that I managed to do that in the last two games. Its been always a huge pleasure to play against Australia. We were not afraid of them. We were calm and composed. Our players showed great maturity and we did it perfectly. My best wishes for our two heroes Duminy and Tahir. Tahir has been the heartbeat of the team for a long time and Duminy is like a father-figure of the team.

Kangaroos captain Aaron Finch showed his frustration after the defeat.

Yes, we would love to win the game but we failed. Yet, we want to take some positive things from the match. David played a great game and scored a magnificent hundred. Carey also takes us very close to the win. It was a great game. Usman Khawaja is a bit of injured and we’ll look at what happens next.

Aaron Finch took the positive note from the game and looking forward to England match

Finally, he is talking about the game against England.

It will surely be a blockbuster game. Edgbaston atmosphere is always so nice. It’s always a great pleasure to play in such packed houses. We are looking forward to the game and will start our preparations.

This is Australia’s second defeat in the group stage and South Africa’s fifth. South Africa’s tournament is already over and they will be heading home soon.