Cricket World Cup History: 5 times South Africa choked at the World Cup 

#2 1999 World Cup semifinal (vs Australia)

Australian players celebrate their surprise win

The second semi-final of the 1999 edition of the World Cup is regarded as one of the greatest ODI matches played in the history of the sport.

Batting first, Australia put on a competitive score of 213 led by half-centuries from skipper Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan. South Africa began their chase well with Gary Kirsten and Herschell Gibbs putting on 48 for the first wicket before Shane Warne removed the openers and skipper Hansie Cronje within two overs.

Notwithstanding a half-century from Jacques Kallis and a handy 43 from Jhonty Rhodes, the game went down to the wire with South Africa needing 9 runs off the final over with Lance Klusener, who was enjoying a purple patch right through the tournament and last man in Allan Donald in the middle.

Klusener smashed the first two balls by Damien Fleming through the off side for consecutive boundaries, bringing the equation down to 1 off 4 balls. Surely, nothing could go wrong for South Africa now, or so they thought.

After a missed run out chance off the next ball, Klusener hit the fourth ball to mid-off and took off for a single. Donald, at the other end, was ball watching and both batsmen were left stranded at the non striker's end. Just as Donald began charging to the striker's end, Gilchrist dislodged the bails, triggering wild scenes in the Australian camp.

While the match did end in a tie, Australia went through to the final on account of a superior net run rate when compared to South Africa from the super six stage, ending South Africa's hopes yet again.