ICC Champions Trophy 2025: David Miller laments scheduling after South Africa's semi-final exit

David Miller scored a 67-ball ton in ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final against New Zealand.

David Miller, who was the lone warrior for South Africa in their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final loss to New Zealand, has stated that the outcome was not what they had thought. The Proteas suffered yet another defeat in an ICC event knockout game as the Kiwis defeated them by 60 runs.

Batting first, New Zealand put on a huge 362 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets. Kane Williamson (102) and Rachin Ravindra (108) led the way, with Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips making 49 runs each for the Kiwis. Lungi Ngidi picked three wickets for South Africa, while Kagiso Rabada took two scalps.

In response, South Africa didn’t show any urgency in the chase of 362 runs, especially captain Temba Bavuma, who got tied down, scoring 56 runs in 71 balls. Though he added 105 runs with Rassie van der Dussen, who made 69, the asking rate was too high when Bavuma got out in the 23rd over with the team score of 125 runs.

Aiden Markram made 31, and big gun Heinrich Klaasen got out for 3 runs as South Africa stared at a big and embarrassing loss until David Miller took hold of the innings. Miller scored 100* in 67 balls with 10 fours and 4 sixes, as the Proteas ended on 312/9 and lost the game by 60 runs.

David Miller slams ICC for poor scheduling of the Champions Trophy and frequent travel

After the Proteas were eliminated from the tournament, David Miller blasted the ICC for their scheduling.

Due to the peculiar Champions Trophy 2025 scheduling, both South Africa and Australia left Pakistan to fly to Dubai following the group round in order to get ready for their possible match-up with India in the semi-finals.

However, the South African squad had to return to Pakistan for their semi-final encounter against New Zealand when the Rohit Sharma men defeated the Kiwis in their final group match, securing a match-up with Australia in the semi-finals.

“It’s only an hour and 40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that was not ideal. It’s early morning; it’s after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4:00 pm. And at 7.30 am we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice. It’s not like we flew five hours, and we had enough time to recover and recuperate, but it was not an ideal situation still,” Miller stated in the post-match press conference.

Miller also backed New Zealand to beat India in the final.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand,” he said.

New Zealand and India clash in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final on Sunday, March 9, in Dubai.

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