ICC Champions Trophy 2013: South Africa vs. West Indies Score and Points Table

At the end of a wet and wild day in Cardiff, Wales, South Africa and West Indies ended with a tie score. Based on superior net run rate, however, South Africa advanced to the ICC Champions Trophy semifinals, according to Cricket South Africa.

The start of the match was delayed for several hours due to inclement weather, so a few rule adjustments needed to be made in order to fit the match in. According to the ICC, it was decided to play the match with 31 over rather than the traditional 40 for the sake of time.

Even with those adjustments, however, the entire match was unable to be played as rain ultimately halted things in the Windies' 26th over. Since the match had already gone well past the desired end time and the rain was falling heavily, it was ultimately called.

Unfortunately for the Windies, they needed to win outright in order to advance out of the group stage as South Africa had a better net run rate. The par was 190 at the time of the stoppage, so the match ended in a tie, which was as good as a win for the Proteas.

The decisive play came right before rain washed away the match for good. World-renowned South African bowler Dale Steyn made a huge play as he helped Ryan McLaren score a wicket. Steyn made a spectacular catch on Kieron Pollard, which made the par 190 rather than 187.

Had the par remained at 187, West Indies would have won the match and advanced to the semifinals, according to West Indies Cricket.

That miscue, paired with a little help from Mother Nature, allowed South Africa to escape with a tie. The Windies and their fans will undoubtedly be left wondering what could have been had the match continued.

West Indies won the coin toss to begin the match and opted to field first, so South Africa got a chance to put some runs on the board first and didn't disappoint.

South Africa had a strong overall performance at bat as it set West Indies a target of 231 to win. That meant that the Windies had to average 7.45 runs per over, so the Proteas ensured that their opponents would have their work cut out for them.

Despite the fact that South Africa was a tough act to follow, the West Indies gave the Proteas all they could handle throughout their time at bat. The Windies' run rate was dire to start, but it got increasingly better as the batters turned it on with each passing over.

Whenever it seemed as though the Windies were poised to surpass South Africa's pace, however, Steyn came up with a huge play in order to hold them at bay. He was absolutely superb and almost single-handedly prevented the West Indies from making headway.

With Marlon Samuels of the West Indies rolling, Steyn came up with a huge bowl to score a wicket for his team and sit Samuels down.

Perhaps just as importantly, the wicket was Steyn's 100th in One Day International play, making him one of the most prolific bowlers in cricket.

His catch on Pollard was the play of the match, though, as it ultimately helped move South Africa into the semifinals. Steyn likely didn't know that his catch would be as big as it was when he made it, but the rains came and that resulted in Steyn being the hero.

Despite Steyn's clutch plays, he was not named man of the match. That honor went to Colin Ingram instead, as he scored an impressive 73 runs and helped South Africa set a pace that was just barely able to hold up over the course of the match.

While South Africa had to be ecstatic over the result, Proteas captain AB de Villiers admitted that the West Indies suffered a very unfortunate fate.

South Africa can worry about how it got to this point, though, as it has plenty of work ahead if it intends to capture the prestigious Champions Trophy.

Points Tables

Group A

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Points
New Zealand	1	0	0	3
England	1	1	0	2
Sri Lanka	1	1	0	2
Australia	0	1	0	1

Group B

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Points
India	2	0	0	4
South Africa	1	1	0	3
West Indies	1	1	0	3
Pakistan	0	2	0	0

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