South Africa’s World Cup jinx returned to haunt them on Friday in a stunning defeat to New Zealand as India and Pakistan’s looming semi-final confrontation sparked a diplomatic and ticket frenzy.
South Africa, chasing 222 to win in Dhaka, crumbled from 108-2 to 172 all out and lost by 49 runs to a never-say-die New Zealand who have reached their sixth World Cup semi-final.
Jacob Oram was New Zealand’s man of the match with four wickets and two catches, while off-spinner Nathan McCullum sealed the Proteas’ fate with three for 24 from 10 overs.
Photo: Reuters
Skipper Graeme Smith (28) and Jacques Kallis (47) put on 61 as South Africa moved to 108-2 by the 24th over, before the last eight wickets crashed for 64 runs.
New Zealand will await the winners of the final quarter-final between Sri Lanka and England in Colombo, while South Africa, often regarded as the best team never to have won the World Cup, were left to lick their wounds.
Their World Cup record is now three semi-final defeats, two losses in the quarter-finals and once in the first round.
Photo: Reuters
“There are no words to describe how I feel,” said Smith, who has now played his last one-day international. “We just have to take it on the chin. It was a very disappointing evening. I thought we bowled pretty well and at 100 for 2, we were sitting well, and then we lost too many wickets.”
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori praised his team’s spirit.
“Every single bowler stepped up today and probably it was the fielding that got us through,” Vettori said. “Once we got 220, we knew we had to be aggressive. We knew it was a tricky wicket and it was going to be an old-school one-day game.”
Meanwhile, India’s semi-final duel with Pakistan sparked a cross-border diplomatic initiative and sent ticket prices soaring on the black market.
India will face their archrivals in Mohali on Wednesday in what will be Pakistan’s first match on Indian soil since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
“India v Pakistan in semi-finals — it doesn’t get better. A World Cup hosted by the sub-continental nations, and India and Pakistan making it to the semis,” India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said. “There will be more pressure on the Indian side and it will be from outside. People will say: ‘win the semis, we don’t care about the final.’”
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has already admitted it would be “awesome” to take on India for a place in the final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai next Saturday.
“There is no bigger rivalry in the game than that. We have not played each other in our own country in recent years,” Younis said. “So it should be very exciting. The two are cricket-loving countries.”
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he intended to attend the match and has invited Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the game.
The invitation comes while relations between the two nations are still tense following the attack by Pakistan-based Islamist militants on Mumbai in 2008 that left 166 people dead.
The Punjab Cricket Association ground in Mohali in northern India only holds 28,000 and the desperate scramble for tickets was already underway.
“The tickets for 250 rupees [US$5.60] are available at 2,200 rupees, while a 1,000-rupee ticket can only be bought for 8,000 rupees,” Mohali student Sahil Kapoor told the Press Trust of India.
India’s demanding media, having celebrated their team’s quarter-final win over defending champions Australia, eagerly anticipated the visit of Shahid Afridi’s team.
“Bring on Pakistan” screamed the front-page headline in the Mail Today.
The Times of India said the match against Pakistan should have all the trappings of a blockbuster.
“It’s a match fans, organizers and advertisers have been fantasizing about and the fact that it will be Pakistan’s first on Indian soil since 26/11 [the 2008 Mumbai attacks] lends an extra edge, if any was needed,” it wrote.
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