Proteas advance in CT semis following 'rain-marred' tie with Windies

South Africa has managed to advance into the semi-finals of the ICC Champions Trophy on a good average run-rate after their rain-marred match against the West Indies at Sophia Gardens ended in a tie on Friday.

With the tie, South Africa, which made 230 for six off their 31 overs, leaving the West Indies a target of 231 in 31 to win, has joined already-qualified India as one of the two semi-finalists from Group B, Sport24 reports.

According to the report, for South Africa, often dubbed 'chokers' for throwing away promising positions, this result was in marked contrast to their 1999 World Cup semi-final tie with Australia, which saw them go out following a pool loss to the Australians.

The report said that another instance was South Africa's exit from the 2003 World Cup on home soil when a failure to correctly interpret the Duckworth/Lewis sheet saw them tie with Sri Lanka, rather than win, in Durban.

The West Indies, who had to win this match to go through to the last four, were exactly level on the Duckworth/Lewis system for rain-affected matches at 190 for six when Australian umpires Rod Tucker and Steve Davis decided the rain was too heavy to continue and took the players off the field for the final time, the report added.