New Zealand defeated South Africa by 49 runs and entered the ICC World Cup semifinals on Friday. New Zealand will play against England or Sri Lanka in the semifinals. Chasing a low total of 222 runs, South Africa, repeating history of losing nerves in the big matches, once again collapsed at 172 in 43.2 overs, falling short of 49 runs. Oram and Nathan McCullum demolished South African batting with 4 and 3 wickets respectively. Smith, Kallis, AB de Villiers and Plessis scored 28, 47, 35 and 36 runs respectively but these big names once again failed to propel their team to the victory in the crucial quarter final match. Earlier, New Zealand set 222 runs target against South Africa in the 3rd quarter final at Dhaka on Friday. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat in an attempt to put a huge total to secure semifinals slot but South Africa, one of the best bowling sides, restricted them to 221 runs. New Zealand lost two early wickets of Guptil and McCullum at just 16 runs. Then, Jesse Ryder scored a steady 83 to help New Zealand rebuild after the early losses. Taylor, who made thrilling 131 against Pakistan, scored 43 crucial runs. Styris, Nathan, Oram and Vettori fell shortly but young Williamson took the team to 221 with vital 38 unbeaten runs. Morkel picked 3 wickets while Tahir and Steyn took 2 wickets each.
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