World Cup flashback: South Africa gift New Zealand victory

New Zealand players celebrate the wicket of South Africa skipper Graeme Smith at Dhaka in 2011

The 2011 World Cup quarter-final saw South Africa choke yet again in an ICC event - this time against New Zealand at Dhaka. The Proteas, who topped Group B with five wins in six encounters, were termed favourites against the Kiwis, who managed to get through to the knockout stage after being placed fourth in Group A.

Defending 221-8, New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori opened the bowling with Nathan McCullum (3-24). The ploy worked as the offie was successful in sending back in-form batsman Hashim Amla (7) on the last ball of the opening over. AB de Villiers joined Jacques Kallis at No. 4 after skipper Graeme Smith (28) departed with the score reading 69-2. At 108-2, just when it looked the Proteas were cruising towards victory, with another 114 required off almost 25 overs, Kallis was caught by Jacob Oram off pacer Tim Southee. Kallis's wicket led to a middle-order collapse as the Proteas lost five wickets for just 25 runs to put them in trouble at 132-7.

South Africa's last hope, No. 6 batsman Faf du Plessis (36) became New Zealand's ninth victim after being caught by Tim Southee at cover-point off pacer Jacob Oram (4-39) as the Proteas were bowled out for 172 in 43.2 overs, thus losing the match by 49 runs. Earlier, riding on Jesse Ryder's 83, the Kiwis scored 221-8 in the allotted 50 overs.

Figured out
Zimbabwe hold the record for the most consecutive defeats - 18 - across three editions (1983 to 1992). Zimbabwe went on to lose five successive matches in 1983 after winning the first game against Australia. John Traicos's men lost all six matches in 1987, while Dave Houghton's side were defeated in seven consecutive games in 1992 before they registered a nine-run win over England to end an 18-game losing streak.

Did you know?
Pakistan's Javed Miandad returned to international cricket 10 days after announcing his retirement in 1994 as then Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto asked him to play till the 1996 World Cup. Miandad, who became the first player to play six World Cups (1975 to 1996), failed to put up an impressive show in the 1996 edition - just 54 runs in five matches.

Player to watch: Jason Holder
West Indies skipper Jason Holder is a man on a mission. He will be determined to prove his critics wrong by leading the Caribbean side to a third World Cup title. He played a major role in West Indies' ODI home series against England, where the medium pacer claimed seven wickets in four innings to help his side level the five-match series 2-2. He can prove dangerous with the bat too, not to forget his unbeaten 202, that helped West Indies shock England by 381 runs in the first Test earlier this year.

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