New Zealand cross great barrier

New Zealand’s Grant Elliott raises his arms in celebration with teammate Dan Vettori, left,as South Africa’s Dale Steyn reacts after they defeated South Africa by four wickets in their Cricket World Cup semifinal in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday. (Source: AP photo)

“Holy f****** ********* this is the best day of my life,” Jimmy Neesham, who lost his spot to Grant Elliott in this New Zealand squad, tweeted at the end of a heart-pounding semi-final that catapulted New Zealand to their first World Cup final and shoved South Africa towards familiar despair.

Neesham could well have been speaking for his countrymen in general for it was a crazy game that went this way and that and was sprinkled with lots of unforgettable moments throughout.

It had everything, including a memorable final over that will be replayed a million times in this country. 12 runs from 6 balls, and Daniel Vettori, who has waited 18 years to get into a World Cup final, even squeezed out a Dale Steyn yorker to the third-man boundary. And it came down to the final two deliveries. Five to win off the final two but Steyn strained his thigh. Eventually, after treatment, he was ready but he and his captain de Villiers had decided to go for the mystifying option of a length delivery. Still, it had to be hit and Elliott walloped it for a stunning six over long-on to bring up a famous win for New Zealand.

It had rain. Memories of 1992 and South Africa surfaced. When elements intervened, Brendon McCullum said he just wished for it to “keep raining”. South Africa were 216 for 3, a strong recovery was in progress, helmed by a frenetic AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis, who was closing on a hundred but it’s all speculation now.

Would South Africa have reached 360 if there was no rain? As it turned out, they looted 65 in five overs, and the D/L adjusted target was 298 in 43 overs.

It had a drop catch. Just like Herschelle Gibbs and Steve Waugh in 1999 semi-final. With 14 runs needed in 7 balls, Elliott swung Morne Morkel to deep backward square-leg region where Farhaan Behardien, who seemed well-set to take the catch, had a nasty shock when JP Duminy, running in from fine-leg, collided with him. South Africa’s nerves were jangling away and the crowd’s delirious roar would have further rubbed it in.

It had a missed run out. With New Zealand still 94 runs adrift of the target, and Corey Anderson on 32, there was a moment of misunderstanding between Anderson and Elliott that South Africa failed to capitalize. Anderson was in the middle of the pitch but Rillee Rossouw’s throw wasn’t smart. Instead of flinging it to Ab de Villiers, who was by the stumps, he went for a direct hit that was off target. De Villiers tried to swoop on the ball but couldn’t collect cleanly and broke the stumps with his hands. That was the moment when New Zealand started to find this belief that the night could be theirs for the taking and the game started to run away from South Africa.

It had a selection decision that would be talked about in the days and months to come. Why did South Africa play Vernon Philander and not retain Kyle Abbott who spun such a web around Kumar Sangakkara the other day? Philander’s lack of match-fitness showed and he could never really get his act together.

It had captaincy decisions that would be talked about for a while. Why didn’t de Villiers give more overs to Imran Tahir earlier on? Tahir bowled like a dream yesterday, getting the ball to skid and the likes of Corey Anderson and even Elliott had problems in reading his googly but he wasn’t given a proper go. Perhaps worried about the fifth-bowler’s quota, de Villiers kept Tahir for later and the momentum swung towards New Zealand as Anderson-Elliott started to grow in confidence.

FLInTOFF-LEE MOMENT
It even had a Flintoff-Lee moment when Elliott who had just smashed Dale Steyn over long-on for the winning six, helped a depressed Steyn, who had fallen to the ground in grief, get up.

For much of the tournament, the fear among the New Zealand public involved the bad hangover of 1992 when they were booted out of the World Cup semi-final by an inspired Pakistan. It took a man born in South Africa to end the 23-year long wait for New Zealand. Meanwhile, South Africa are still searching for a way out.

Source:: Indian Express