New Zealand registered their first semi final victory in their cricket history as they beat South Africa by 4 wickets at Eden Park, Auckland. South Africa failed to break their semi final jinx as it was their fourth defeat in as many semi final appearances.
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On the big day AB de Villiers won the important and decided to bat first. They did not have the desired start but Faf Du Plessis (82) and Rilee Rossouw (39) steadied the South African ship mid way through the innings. AB de Villiers once again played a useful innings that brought South Africa back into the game strongly. Then there was a pause in the game due to the rain and after that the match situation was revised which did bring some problems for South Africa. The match was reduced to 43 over-a-side match. However David Miller played a scintillating innings of 49 runs off just 19 balls that enabled South Africa to post a massive total of 281-5 in 43 overs. Corey Anderson picked up three wickets for the Kiwis but he gave away 72 runs in 6 overs. Trent Boult put up a consistent show as he picked the two South African openers towards the early part of the innings.
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New Zealand’s target was once again revised by D/L Method to 298 in 43 overs. And they chased it down in style with one ball remaining. Grant Elliott played an exceptional innings of 84 runs to take the Black Caps over the finishing line. Brendon McCullum also played a blistering innings of 59 runs off just 26 balls to give New Zealand the sort of start that could have kept them in the contest. Corey Anderson also contributed 58 runs at the most crucial juncture of the match that took the game away from the Proteas. His partnership with Elliott turned out to be the most crucial in this massive run chase for the Kiwis. For South Africa Dale Steyn failed to fire on the big stage once again as he conceded 76 runs at a rate of 8.6 runs per over. Morne Morkel picked up 3 wickets but proved to be too expensive.
Grant Elliot got the man of the match award for his match winning performance with the bat. His ability to hold the nerves even under tremendous pressure made sure that New Zealand will be travelling to Australia to play in the big final on Sunday at Melbourne Cricket Ground. They will face the winner of the second semifinal which will be played on Thursday between India and Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Tags: ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 ICC World Cup 2015 New Zealand South Africa
