A plaque proclaiming Gloucestershire as the home of WG Grace‚ "The Great Cricketer"‚ has hung outside Bristol’s County Ground since July 18 1948 — the centenary of his birth. But Nelson Mandela loomed even larger for the South Africans who were here on Tuesday — the 99th anniversary of the day their first properly elected president was born. Eleven of those too young to remember Mandela’s 67 years of struggle for change would have hoped to give him a fitting posthumous birthday present. It was not to be: England beat SA by two wickets, with two balls to spare in their World Cup semifinal. Dane van Niekerk’s team fought hard, but even their high quality attack was always going to struggle to defend the 218/6 their batsmen mustered. "We were 30 runs short but we went out there believing‚" Van Niekerk said afterwards. England replied with 221/8 to win with two balls to spare and book a berth in the final at Lord’s on Sunday. Their opponents will be the winners of Thursday’s other semif...
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