New Zealand Is Through To The Cricket World Cup Final

The Kiwi‘s won a rain affected game, reeling in an adjusted total of 298 with four wickets and two balls left to spare, after middle order batsman Grant Elliott heaved Dale Steyn over the Eden Park boundary to seal the victory and send the predominantly home nation crowd into hysterics.

Earlier, South Africa had been well on the way to posting an imposing total, negating New Zealand’s pace attack that had ripped apart lesser sides through the Cup’s preliminary matches. A measured innings of 82 from Faf Du Plessis set the tone, and AB DeVilliers had begun to put the foot down when rain began tumbling from the heavens.

Though the delay was to be reasonably short lived, it was still enough to see the Saffers’ innings shortened by 7 overs.

Not to be held back by that, a clubbing knock from David Miller saw DeVilliers uncharacteristically take a back seat, as Miller sent the ball over the ropes three times, and hit them six times more, in a blistering cameo that registered 49 off just 18 deliveries. When all was said and done, DeVilliers had put in an unbeaten 65, and the Proteas had lodged an impressive 5/281 off just 43 overs.

Thanks to the still-indecipherable mathematic lunacy of the Duckworth Lewis method, the Kiwis took the field with an adjusted target of 298 off the same 43 overs their opponents were afforded.

Usual early innings destroyer Brendon McCullum lived up to his reputation, scorching the Kiwis out of the blocks to have them at 71 runs off a mere 6 overs before falling as the first wicket. When the dust finally settled from the power of his shots, the scoreboard revealed he’d smashed 59 off a blistering 26 balls.

But it was the South Africans who began to tighten the screws in the middle stages of the innings, with Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir applying the brakes to what was threatening to be a careening run-rate.

Quarter final double centurion Martin Guptil fell cheaply to a run out on a wildly unnecessary chance, and the normally composed Ross Taylor was out-smarted by a drifting JP Duminy delivery right on the verge of being truly dangerous.

The Kiwis fortunes turned on a dime the instant the batting powerplay was called. Grant Elliot and Corey Anderson not only managed to steady the ship, but hoist the wet sail that the New Zealanders have gone to time and time again throughout this tournament.

The South Africans, for their part, began crumbling in the field as the pressure switched back on to the bowling side. Despite claiming the wickets of first Anderson and later Luke Ronchi in the dying overs, numerous missed run outs and baffling fielding miscommunications saw a number of potential game-winning wickets go wanting.

From there, the stage became set for what will surely go down as the finest moment in New Zealand’s cricketing history thus far. With 11 runs to gain off the final over, it was veteran Daniel Vettori who first squeezed a boundary from a clearly labouring Dale Steyn, before the second scrambled bye of the over brought Elliot back on strike.

And that was all that was needed. Elliot’s sure swing dispatched Steyn’s second last delivery over the short Eden Park boundary, and the Kiwi players and fans erupted in celebration.

This was not a case of one team blinking under extreme pressure. Rather, two heavyweights throwing bombs at each other all night, with a winner only emerging late in the twelfth round.

For South Africa, this is yet another World Cup campaign that falls agonisingly short, and the flight back to Johannesburg provides many, many idle hours to rue what might have been.

For New Zealand, a trip to Australia now awaits – their first for this tournament – and the 2015 Cricket World Cup final at the revered Melbourne Cricket Ground.

For the Australian and Indian teams, who face off in semi-final number two come Thursday, a defined opponent of some considerable might is now the reward for victory.