New Zealand beat South Africa, enter World Cup final

Auckland, March 24 (IANS) New Zealand defeated South Africa by four wickets (Duckworth/Lewis) in the semi-final to enter their maiden cricket World Cup final at the Eden Park here on Tuesday.

After opting to bat, South Africa put up 281/5 in 43 overs in a rain shortened match with Faf du Plesis top scoring with 82.

Chasing a revised target of 298 in 43 overs, New Zealand hit the target with one ball to spare. Grand Elliot top scored with 84 not out.

The following is the scoreboard of the cricket World Cup semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa played at the Eden Park here on Tuesday:

South Africa (43 overs maximum)
Hashim Amla b Boult 10
Quinton de Kock c Southee b Boult 14
Faf du Plessis c Ronchi b Anderson 82
Rilee Rossouw c Guptill b Anderson 39
AB de Villiers not out 65
David Miller c Ronchi b Anderson 49
JP Duminy not out 8
Extras (b 1, w 13) 14
Total (five wickets in 43 overs) 281
Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Amla, 3.4 overs), 2-31 (de Kock, 7.5), 3-114 (Rossouw, 26.1), 4-217 (du Plessis, 38.2), 5-272 (Miller, 42.2)

Bowling
Tim Southee 9-1-55-0
Trent Boult 9-0-53-2
Matt Henry 8-2-40-0
Daniel Vettori 9-0-46-0
Kane Williamson 1-0-5-0
Grant Elliott 1-0-9-0
Corey Anderson 6-0-72-3

New Zealand (target 298 runs from 43 overs)
Martin Guptill run out (Amla/de Kock) 34
Brendon McCullum c Steyn b Morkel 59
Kane Williamson b Morkel 6
Ross Taylor c de Kock b Duminy 30
Grant Elliott not out 84
Corey Anderson c du Plessis b Morkel 58
Luke Ronchi c Rossouw b Steyn 8
Daniel Vettori not out 7
Extras (b 6, lb 2, w 5) 13
Total (six wickets in 42.5 overs) 299
Fall of wickets: 1-71 (McCullum, 6.1 overs), 2-81 (Williamson, 8.5), 3-128 (Guptill, 17.1), 4-149 (Taylor, 21.4), 5-252 (Anderson, 37.6), 6-269 (Ronchi, 40.1)

Bowling
Dale Steyn 8.5-0-76-1
Vernon Philander 8-0-52-0
Morne Morkel 9-0-59-3
Imran Tahir 9-1-40-0
JP Duminy 5-0-43-1
AB de Villiers 3-0-21-0

Match details:
Toss: South Africa chose to bat
Umpires: Ian Gould (England) and Rod Tucker (Australia)
TV umpire: Nigel Llong (England)
Match referee: David Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire: Bruce Oxenford (Australia)

Quotes

Brendon McCullum: It is pretty amazing. The game was outstanding. I am sure everyone will remember it for the rest of their lives. We give ourselves a chance at World cup glory.

AB de Villiers: Amazing game of cricket. The most electric crowd I have heard in my life. They really supported the team. The better team came out on top. We gave it our best. We don't go back with any regrets. We had our chances, and it is hurting quite a bit. We will take a bit of time to get over this. The rain was the worst of it all. We don't play for ourselves. We wanted to make a difference in our country back home. Hopefully the people can still be proud of us. I felt we had a wonderful thing going on as a team. The unit came and stuck today. Good individual performances through out the tournament. To the teams in the finals, all the best. 

Grant Elliott: It's great. I don't think this win is for myself, it is not for the team but it is for the supporters. We just wanted to take it as deep as we could. Corey batted fantastically well. We timed the pace of the innings to perfection. When you got 40,000 fans screaming at you every ball, its been an absolute pleasure playing in front of the home crowd at Eden Park. I think we've had a good run. It is the first final for us. When we look back at the end of the day, hopefully it will fall in place. I don't even know where the ball went (speaking about the six to seal the win).