Friday, March 25, 2011

South Africa vs New Zealand


South Africa vs New Zealand
The Black Caps have charged into the World Cup semifinals after stunning South Africa by 49 runs in a low-scoring arm-wrestle at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka this morning.
At the same venue as their four-nil series loss to Bangladesh in October last year, the New Zealanders had talked in the build-up to the quarterfinal about erasing the lingering demons from that tour.
And that's exactly what they did, unbelievably slaying one of world cricket's giants on their way to yet another World Cup semifinal where they'll meet either England or Sri Lanka in Colombo on Tuesday.
Batting first after winning the toss, the New Zealanders looked as if they'd be homeward bound after stuttering to 221-8 from their 50 overs.
Even if South Africa's well-documented tendency to choke at big tournaments had been lurking somewhere in the back of their minds, the likelihood of that happening seemed slim to none.
Halfway through their run-chase, the Proteas were coasting along on 108-3 before the loss of two wickets in the space of one over suddenly turned the match on its head.
They never recovered and some stunning work from the New Zealanders both in the field and with the ball in hand - in particular from Jacob Oram and Nathan McCullum, who took seven wickets between them - ensured the massive upset.
"It's a very happy dressing room, obviously," skipper Daniel Vettori said.
"Not only because we won a quarterfinal but also because the performance that we put in was very satisfying.
"250 would probably have been a really good score but with 220 we always knew was defendable and the way we bowled, and particularly the way we fielded, led by Martin Guptill, probably got us through to the victory."
In stark contrast, South African captain Graeme Smith cut the figure of a broken man and described the feeling in his dressing room as one of "disbelief".
Earlier in the day, after watching opener Brendon McCullum spoon the ball back to South African spinner Robin Peterson in just the third over, one couldn't help but feel another limp batting performance from the New Zealanders was about to transpire.
And when Ross Taylor slowly walked out to join Jesse Ryder in the middle after Martin Guptill also went cheaply, the Black Caps were in trouble on 16-2 and the Dhaka air was thick with tension.
At that point in time, few would have given the New Zealanders a hope of having any wickets left in hand at the 35-over mark, let alone seven that coach John Wright's well-documented batting blueprint would have stipulated.
Taylor and Ryder had other thoughts, however, and showing all the grit and determination their coach could have hoped to see, set about digging their country out of trouble.
By the 30th over, the New Zealanders had scrapped for every one of their 116 runs and although they weren't scoring quickly, with eight wickets in hand they were in a position to begin their assault on the scoreboard.
After such a patient display of batting, they started taking risks in search of boundaries. Unsurprisingly, Taylor was soon caught in the deep for a hard-fought 43 from 72 balls and the wheels began to fall off.
Scott Styris came in and played on to a Morne Morkel delivery as he was starting to look dangerous and just as Taylor had tried to clear the midwicket boundary a few overs before him, Ryder, attempting to pick the run-rate, was then caught in the deep off the bowling of South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir for a superb 83 from 121 balls.
The Black Caps, who had been cruising on 130-2, suddenly found themselves in serious trouble on 156-5 with just over 11 overs left to compile a total that would trouble the South Africans.
Nathan McCullum, Oram and Daniel Vettori all came and went, scarcely troubling the scorers in their attempts to pick their side up, and in the end it was some steady play from Kane Williamson that helped the side to 221-8.
At that point in time, the result appeared to be a given.
But as soon as South Africa lost danger man Hashim Amla to a freak dismissal in the first over when he chopped the ball onto keeper McCullum's boot only to see it pop up into slip Vettori's hands, anything was possible.
Jacques Kallis and Smith quickly steadied the ship but nobody had any idea what was to come.
Smith was the next to go, caught for 28 at point, and when Kallis was pulled in on the boundary by a brilliant Oram catch for 47 from 75 balls with his side on 108-3, the match was in the balance.
That balanced tipped in favour of the New Zealanders when JP Duminy was bowled by Nathan McCullum and two balls later the in-form AB de Villiers found himself on the end of a Guptill run out.
After that, the wickets tumbled and in the end the Proteas could only amass a meagre total of 172 from 43.2 overs, confirming, it would seem, that their chokers tag is fairly fitting.
Sources: http://www.stuff.co.nz

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