Today in Grenada, New Zealand defeated South Africa by 5 wickets to claim a semi final spot. The result also confirmed Sri Lanka's position in the semi finals as well. The Kiwi's victory also means that the West Indies, and Bangladesh are still mathematically alive.
Winning the toss, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming made the correct decision and sent the South Africans in to bat. The pitch was one of the few ones in this World Cup that gave noticeable assistance to the bowlers straight up, as the ball seamed, swung and bounced at varying heights, due to damp patches on the surface. In post match interviews South African Jacques Kallis blamed the conditions for the defeat, but aside from two early wickets, the South Africans only had to look in the mirror for the causes of their defeat.
New Zealand opening bowlers Shane Bond and James Franklin made batting difficult for the Proteas and reduced South Africa to 3 for 2 wickets, with both openers back in the hut. AB de Villiers followed up on the magnificent 146 he made against the Windies with a duck, his fourth of the tournament. Fleming made a masterful decision in judging that the rarely used medium pacers of batsman Craig McMillan would be effective on the pitch. McMillan ended up with 3 wickets, including the key wickets of top scorer Herschelle Gibbs (60), Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher as South Africa crawled to 193/7 in 50 overs.
In reply, the Black Caps batted for the occasion and paced their innings on a pitch which got better for batting as the day wore on. Half centuries by Fleming (50) and Scott Styris (56) saw the Kiwis home to victory with 10 balls to spare. Styris now has the highest World Cup average so far at 108.75. The Kiwis were aided by three dropped catches by the usually sure handed South Africans. Prince, Gibbs and keeper Boucher all put down sharp catches that could have turned the game in South Africa's favour. South Africa had played two series prior to the World Cup without dropping a single catch.
The Kiwi victory also guaranteed Sri Lanka's semi final berth as Sri Lanka, sitting in third place on 8 points, can only be tied by England (4 points with two matches left against South Africa and West Indies) or South Africa (6 points with one match against England to come), but not both, and so are guaranteed of finishing in the top 4.
The West Indies are unbelievably still alive in the tournament and will need England to beat South Africa on Tuesday to retain any hope of progressing. Should England beat South Africa, the Proteas will finish on 6 points, while West Indian victories against Bangladesh and England would leave England and the West Indies on 6 points as well, a three-way tie for the final spot. The net run rates (NRR) would then decide the semi finalist. Currently England have the best NRR at +0.079, South Africa follows at -0.210 while the Windies lag at -1.212, but hefty wins for the Windies over Bangladesh and England would alter those rates. Of course, should South Africa beat England on Tuesday, then we can throw the run rates out the window, as South Africa would grab that 4th semi final spot.
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