South Africa lick wounds after more World Cup agony

Captain Faf du Plessis was left contemplating the ruins of another World Cup campaign on the ground where South Africa experienced their greatest heartache in the competition 20 years ago.

The Proteas' hopes of reaching the semi-finals in England and Wales are all but over after a four-wicket defeat by New Zealand on Wednesday.

One minor consolation is that the recriminations from Wednesday's reverse at Edgbaston are unlikely to be as great as those at Warwickshire's headquarters 20 years ago when a disastrous run-out saw them tie with Australia and miss out on the final due to an inferior net run rate.

South Africa are still alive at the World Cup but with just one win from six matches it would take an extraordinary combination of results to see them into the semi-finals from a 10-team round-robin group phase.

On Wednesday, South Africa fought hard to get to 241 for six on a difficult pitch after losing the toss.

And it so very nearly proved enough, with New Zealand needing a superbly paced 106 not out from captain and star batsman Kane Williamson to see them home with just three balls to spare.

Fans of AB de Villiers will argue this proves the Proteas were wrong to refuse the gifted batsman's offer to come out of international retirement for the World Cup, but others will say the offer came far too late for it to be accepted by South Africa's selectors.

"Kane played a great knock, you know," said Du Plessis. "It's probably the difference between the two sides, just one guy taking it through.

"You need someone to go further, and we haven't had that."
- Stuttering campaign -
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"That's not where the game was won and lost."