World Cup 2015 SF 1 South Africa vs New Zealand review; New Zealand make 1st WC final, South Africa left heart broken

World Cup 2015 SF 1 South Africa vs New Zealand review; New Zealand make 1st WC final, South Africa left heart broken: Two dynamic teams faced off against each other in the semi-finals for a chance to play in the finals for the first time and produced a match well deserved of the tag of a World Cup semi-final. Both New Zealand and South Africa wanted to be in the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29th of March 2015 to play the final of the World Cup 2015. Only New Zealand clinched that chance and will now face the winner of India v Australia in the finals.

South Africa won the toss and decided to bat first on the Auckland wicket. South Africa went in unchanged while New Zealand had to bring in Matt Henry to cover up for injured Adam Milne. Africa got off to a slow start with 31/2 in 8 overs, losing both openers Amla(10) and De Kock (14) to Boult, who again bowed with pace and swing. The innings was stabilised by a 83 run partnership between Rilee Rossouw (39) and Faf du Plessis who scored a brilliant 82 runs off 107 balls.

Then AB de Villiers joined du Plessis and both of them added a 103 runs for the 5th wicket. In the 38th over, heavy rain interrupted the match and stayed long enough to make the game lose 7 overs from the allotted 50 overs. This changed the scenario of the match as South Africa was on 216/3 and looking good for a score of around 360. But when they came back out, they had just 5 overs to play more and AB de Villiers (65*) and David Miller (49 off 18 balls) added 50 runs in 23 balls in the end with Miller hitting 6 fours and 3 sixes before holding out to Ronchi off Anderson who went for 72 runs in his 6 overs.

South Africa ended on 281/5 in their re-alloted 43 overs. Trent Boult picked up 2/53 in his 9 overs and Corey Anderson picked 3/72 off his 6 overs. The target for New Zealand was reset to 298 off 43 overs using the Duckworth Lewis method.

New Zealand had a mountain to climb needing 298 at almost 7 RPO. They had the right man for the job in Captain Brendon McCullum who continued his culling ways with a whirlwind 59 off 26 balls, taking 25 runs off Dale Steyn’s 3rd over. After McCullum and Williamson got out with 81 runs on the board and Guptill followed suit with clinically bad running for 34 with Kiwis on 128/4, South Africa smelled the victory near to them.

In came Grant Elliot and Ross Taylor who made 30 runs allowing Elliot to get his eye in. After Taylor departed on 30 with score on 149, in came the very dangerous Corey Anderson to partner Elliot. Both slowly but surely started picking up the pace of run making by hitting boundaries and sixes. AB de Villiers tried his hand at almost everything even bowling himself to cope up for the failure of Dale Steyn. Steyn looked too tired and fatigued form bowling all the season in Tests, ODIs and T20s to generate the kind of pace and accuracy that he is known for. This took away a major potent weapon from AB de Villiers’ arsenal. Though Morne Morkel more than made up for it, South Africa still felt they were short of a bowler. Imran Tahir was economical in his spell, but his failure to take a wicket cost South Africa dearly.

Corey Anderson and Grant Elliot added 103 runs in just 16 overs with Anderson scoring 58 runs with 2 sixes and 6 fours. Elliot started to let loose himself hitting JP Duminy for a six. In the end, ist all came to 12 runs from the last over bowled by Dale Steyn with Elliot and Daniel Vettori on the crease. After giving away singles on the first 2 balls, Steyn bowled a full delivery which Vettori sliced to point boundary for four. Needing six of 2 and with Elliot on strike, Steyn miscalculated and bowled a length ball for Elliot to swing it over the long on fence for a six. The Eden Park crowd of 45000 people erupted in a collective roars while Elliot and Vettori hugged it out in the middle. New Zealand made 299/6 winning the semi-finals by 4 wickets using D/L method and reached their first ever World Cup final.

The tears from the eyes of South African players including Morkel, De Villiers, Steyn, Du Plessis and De Kock showed the passion and sadness they had inside losing out on another chance to qualify for the finals and lift the trophy. The sadness engulfed the supporters of Proteas as well and tear started flowing from their eyes also, but the whole stadium gave a standing ovation to the South African team for playing one of the greatest games in World Cup knock out history.

New Zealand took a lap of honor to thanks the Kiwi fans for their support to their journey into the World Cup finals. This was their last match on New Zealand soil as they move on to Australia for the finals. On the other hand, South Africa have a lot to think after another missed opportunity at the World Cup glory.

Grant Elliot got the Man of the match for his match winning 6 and 84*. New Zealand will now meet the winners of the 2nd semi-final between India and Australia, in the finals of the 2015 World Cup on 29th March 2015, to be played in the legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Brief Score

South Africa 281/5 43 overs (F du Plessis 82, AB de Villiers 65*; C Anderson 3/72) lost to New Zealand 299/6 (Target 298 in 43 overs via D/L method) (G Elliot 84*, B McCullum 59; M Morkel 3/59) by 4 wickets using D/L method.

Records and Trivia

# This is the 1st time New Zealand has qualified for the finals of the World Cup.

# This is the first ever World Cup for New Zealand (50* sixes) in which they have hit 50 SIXES. In 2007 edition they hit 43.

# This is the 300th ODI in NZ, 5th country after Australia 596, India 404, England 370 & South Africa 308 to host 300 or more ODIs.

# 191.81 Brendon McCullum’s batting strike rate in the 2015 WC (min 50ball).

# 8th consecutive win for New Zealand in World Cups, their best streak in WC matches. Previous best was 7 consecutive win in 1992 WC.

# 299 – The highest score chased in a World Cup knockout match.