Auckland: Scoreboard of New Zealand vs South Africa, Semifinal 1 of the ICC World Cup 2015 played at Eden Park here Tuesday.
Grant Elliott struck a six off the penultimate to lift New Zealand to a four-wicket win over South Africa in a cliff-hanging match Tuesday which carried it into a Cricket World Cup final for the first time, ending its run of defeats in its six previous semifinals.
Earlier,David Miller blazed his way to a 18-ball 49 as South Africa set New Zealand a daunting target of 298 runs in 43 overs in the rain-curtailed first semifinal.
Opting to bat, South Africa notched up 281 for five, but the target was revised under the Duckworth/Lewis method after seven overs each were deducted per side following a two-hour rain interruption at Eden Park.
Skipper AB de Villiers made an unbeaten 65 off 45 balls, while Faf du Plessis top-scored with a 107-ball 82, but it was Miller's innings that gave Proteas the much-needed impetuous towards the end.
South Africa innings: 281/5 in 43 overs
(target for New Zealand: 298 in 43 overs via D/L method)
| 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, wd 13) | 14 |
| Total | for 5 wickets | 281 |
| Overs | innings break | 43 |
| Fall of wickets | 1-21 (Amla, 3.4 ov), 2-31 (de Kock, 7.5 ov), 3-114 (Rossouw, 26.1 ov), 4-217 (du Plessis, 38.2 ov), 5-272 (Miller, 42.2 ov) |
Did not bat: Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir
Bowling
| Bowler | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets |
| 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 Innings:
| M Guptill | run out (Amla/de Kock) | 34 |
| B McCullum | c Steyn b Morkel | 59 |
| K Williamson | b Morkel | 6 |
| R Taylor | c de Kock b Duminy | 30 |
| G Elliott | not out | 84 |
| C Anderson | c du Plessis b Morkel | 58 |
| L Ronchi | c Rossouw b Steyn | 8 |
| D Vettori | not out | 7 |
| Extras | (b 6, lb 2, w 5) | 13 |
| Overs | 42.5 | |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-71 (McCullum, 6.1 ov), 2-81 (Williamson, 8.5 ov), 3-128 (Guptill, 17.1 ov), 4-149 (Taylor, 21.4 ov), 5-252 (Anderson, 37.6 ov), 6-269 (Ronchi, 40.1 ov) | |
| Total | (6 wickets; 42.5 overs) | 299 |
Bowling:
| Bowler | Overs | Maiden | Runs | Wickets |
| D Steyn | 8.5 | 0 | 76 | 1 |
| VD Philander | 8 | 0 | 52 | 0 |
| M Morkel | 9 | 0 | 59 | 3 |
| I Tahir | 9 | 1 | 40 | 0 |
| JP Duminy | 5 | 0 | 43 | 1 |
| AB de Villiers | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
