Following Wednesday’s Champions Trophy semi-final loss to New Zealand on the Gaddafi Stadium, South Africa’s middle-order batsman David Miller attacked the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Frustrated, he gestured to travel plans and timing, which he thought compromised the Proteas’ performance. Following their group-stage games, both Group B, South Africa’s and Australia’s semi-finalists had to fly to Dubai since India’s semi-final opponent remained unknown until they defeated New Zealand in the third league encounter.
Australia stayed in Dubai to face India; South Africa had to return to Pakistan for their semi-final match against New Zealand in Lahore following India’s victory.
Having scored a century against New Zealand, the left-handed batsman questioned the travel plan and called it far from perfect.
“Although the flight is only an hour and forty-minute one, the fact that we had to do that was not ideal,” Miller added.
“We had to fly early morning following a game. We arrived in Dubai around 4 p.m.; by 7:30 a.m., we had to return. It isn’t pleasant. We didn’t fly five hours and had enough time to heal and recover. Still, it wasn’t a perfect scenario,” he said.
Having come in at number six, the 35-year-old was South Africa’s best performance in the semi-final, producing a magnificent century off just 67 balls—the fastest in Champions Trophy history.
By breaking Virender Sehwag’s 23-year-old record of a 77-ball ton against England at Colombo’s Premadasa Stadium in 2002, he became the first player to reach the milestone in under 70 balls in the competition.
Having earlier accomplished the record against Australia in the 2023 World Cup semi-final at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, Miller also became the first South African to score two hundred in the knockout rounds of ICC competitions.
South Africa lost to New Zealand by 50 runs despite his heroics. Now, on March 9 at Dubai International Stadium, New Zealand will be facing India in the final.
