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Posted by BV Swagath on April 14, 2007 (Link to Scorecard)

South Africa are in a real spot of bother after losing their Super Eights match against the Black Caps at Grenada. The Proteas now will be in a do or die game against England, who are also in the same situation when both teams clash for the no.4 spot of the Semis on Tuesday. This was because of a well executed five-wicket win by New Zealand which was led by half centuries from Stephen Fleming and Scott Styris. This win confirms a Semi-Final entry for NZ with one more game left.

The toss proved to be the most crucial factor of the match. New Zealand were lucky that they won it and had it gone SA's way then the outcome of the match could have been different. On a real damp wicket, the South African top order had to face almost unplayable conditions. They were put on the backfoot straightaway losing Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers for nothing. Graeme Smith was caught driving early while AB de Villiers got a dream left armer's delivery that swung back late to have him dead in front of the stumps. It was so difficult to bat on this wicket that South Africa after the first ten overs had put on just the 12 runs on the board! Kallis after doing all the hard work threw it away with an attempt to break the shackles against Vettori. He was caught off a miscued hit after getting 22 from 54 with a boundary and a pull for a six off Oram to have SA at 52 for 3 in nearly 20 overs.

The Proteas got back on some kind of a track thanks to a steady partnership between Herschelle Gibbs and Ashwell Prince that put on 76 runs for the fourth wicket. It was a freak move from Fleming to get Craig McMillan to bowl his slow medium and he struck gold in his first over itself. Gibbs played onto his stumps in his loose defense after making 60 from 100 balls with 2 fours and a six. McMillan didn't stop there as he went onto remove Prince and the dangerous Boucher in the slog overs to have SA pegged back at 149 for 6. Both batsmen were caught lofting. Prince was the second top scorer with 37 from 57. The South Africans couldn't cross the 200-run barrier because of a good last over from Shane Bond. They closed their innings at 193 for 7 with Pollock unbeaten on a 26-ball 21 which had a six. All in all, just the 55 runs were scored in the last 10 overs. The pick of the bowlers were James Franklin with 1 for 16 in 7 overs and Shane Bond with 2 for 26 in his 10. Craig McMillan enjoyed his luck to take 3 for 23 in 5 overs. Jeetan Patel who came in for Gillespie in this game bowled a tight spell of none for 36 in 10 while Vettori was unusually expensive.

Only early wickets could have got South Africa back in the match while New Zealand had to make sure that they were positive to keep the scoreboard ticking. It was a fabulous opening spell from Shaun Pollock but he didn't get any rewards with Stephen Fleming beaten by a couple of terrific deliveries around the offstump. The breakthrough was given by Ntini whose pitched up delivery was driven by Peter Fulton in the slips. It still wasn't a bad start for the chasing team with 25 on the board. New man Ross Taylor started confidently, he timed the ball well, but his innings was a short one after he received a not-so-great lbw decision. It was an Andre Nel's skidding delivery that came back sharply to hit his back leg, but well over the knee roll, hawk eye confirmed that it was going over the top of the stumps. But to the naked eye at the first look, it appeared to be plumb in front.

Scott Styris walked in with his team once again in a crisis, this time at 42 for 2 in the 13th over. Styris is the man in form and he got a busy innings going while Stephen Fleming was like a rock at the other end. Both these batsmen rotated the strike smartly which reduced the target effectively. The introduction of spin in the form of Robin Peterson allowed the two batsmen to break free sensibly, which they did with success. With just 74 more runs left to play with, Graeme Smith brought back Shaun Pollock, who didn't disappoint his skipper as he got Fleming to chase a wide one to be caught behind. Fleming by then had got to his 49th fifty, he scored exactly 50 from 84 with 6 fours. The Proteas had dropped him twice, first by Boucher off a miscued pull and then by Gibbs at point. Styris was also given an early break with Ashwell Prince failing to take a tough chance at mid wicket off a pull shot. Craig McMillan was the no.5 and he put on a fifty run stand with Styris that sealed the match. It wasn't all that easy for this pair as the ball was reverse swinging sharply at this stage. Both Shaun Pollock and Andrew Hall looked quite threatening. Once Pollock was seen off, McMillan and Styris got a few shots flowing which allowed them not to get bogged down. When NZ got into the comfort zone, Styris tried to get to a quick finish by playing a few big shots but was caught off Peterson. It was another important innings from Styris, his 5th World Cup fifty, to be precise he got 56 from 84 with 4 fours.

Jacob Oram got the opportunity to finish the match, he went for a slog across the line to a full length delivery off Andre Nel which saw his stumps rattled. So it was the next batsman Brendon McCullum getting the honour of striking the winning boundary while Craig McMillan remained unbeaten smartly at the other end with 38 from 55 with two fours and a six off Rob Peterson over mid wicket. It was Craig McMillan, the man with the golden arm getting the Man of the Match award for his all round display! New Zealand's next challenge is to beat the unbeaten Aussies, now can they break their winning streak of 19 straight wins in World Cup???

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