A South African sinks their ship

The hero of New Zealand’s semifinal triumph in the World Cup. Grant Elliott is South African by birth and even played domestic cricket in South Africa.

If New Zealand win their maiden World Cup on Sunday, it will probably be the biggest wedding gift that Grant Elliott can give his sister. A belated one, though. The 36-year-old all-rounder turned hero in Auckland on Tuesday night after his unbeaten 84 helped New Zealand clinch their maiden World Cup spot. “She’s got a wedding on Friday. Unfortunately, I will miss her wedding. I’m sorry. She’s pretty happy for me but I’m going to have to get her a special gift I think,” Elliott said. Top-notch cricketers have always looked at the “bigger picture” and have put team before family. Sachin Tendulkar did it in 1999. Three days after his father Ramesh Tendulkar passed away, Sachin joined his teammates back in England and scored a century against Kenya to inspire India to a big World Cup win. It was Sachin’s mother who forced her son to go back to cricket. Elliott, of course, is in a happier space.

However, not a lot of people know that Grant Elliott is South African by birth and even played domestic cricket in South Africa before migrating to New Zealand 14 years ago. So effectively, a South African has knocked South Africa out of the 2015 World Cup.

Sunil Gavaskar was all praise for Elliott’s winning six that helped New Zealand cross the finish line and notch up a historic win. He told media in India, “That was a terrific blow because it was the only time in the entire innings against Steyn that he actually moved across towards the off-side, otherwise his backfoot was going outside leg stump and the front foot was just going leg stump to middle stump. He just looked as if he was a little apprehensive, maybe a little scared of Dale Steyn, but when it mattered, his nerves were fantastic and he won the game. So credit to him for the way he batted.”