McCullum praises Kiwi effort

The Kiwis coasted into the last four with a five-wicket win after enjoying by far the better of conditions at Queen's Park.

The Kiwis - whose win also sent through Sri Lanka - needed to pass only 193 for seven and did so with 10 balls to spare, on the back of half-centuries from Stephen Fleming (50) and Scott Styris (56).

Fleming's most telling contribution, however, was his simple decision to bowl first in this Super Eight match which was played under heavy cloud cover in the first innings and none at all for most of the second.

"It's great that we picked ourselves up after the last game (against Sri Lanka)," McCullum said.

"With the overcast conditions today the toss was pretty crucial. We knew there was always going to be a window there and the way the guys bowled was fantastic, it gave us a chance to exploit it.

"We've bounced back after the last game. We kept pressure on them with the ball and chasing 190 on this sort of pitch was a pleasure to do."

South Africa had to contend with some of the most difficult batting conditions of the World Cup so far.

Graeme Smith's side were forced to battle for every run.

Herschelle Gibbs (60), who came in at three for two at the end of the third over, shared stands of 49 with Jacques Kallis and then 76 with Ashwell Prince to give South Africa a shot at a worthwhile total - only for the unlikely medium pace of Craig McMillan (three for 23) to undermine Plan B.

South Africa's third-wicket pair Gibbs and Kallis needed great tenacity and skill to prevent irreparable damage at the top of the order.

Ball habitually beat bat through the first 10 overs, the swing available to Shane Bond and James Franklin aided and abetted by a series of light showers which freshened up the pitch for seam movement and occasional steepling bounce.

In the circumstances, mere survival was a major achievement.

Smith failed to lay bat on ball in Bond's first over - until he tried to seize on the fifth delivery only to chisel a catch low to cover.

The captain at least managed to make a run - more than his opening partner AB de Villiers could do, before Franklin's inswing pinned him lbw on the front-foot defence.

Gibbs and Kallis then attempted nothing approaching an attacking shot until the former cover-drove Bond for the first boundary of the match deep into the 10th over.

Kallis went from four to 10, from the 36th ball he faced, when he went down the wicket to first change Jacob Oram and planted him into the stand at long-off.

Gibbs repeated the dose, over long-on, when he got to Oram's end - but still the 15-over total was a precarious 34 for two.

That became 52 for three when Kallis tried to make up for time inevitably lost, aiming a big hit at Daniel Vettori in the left-arm spinner's first over.

He did not get to the pitch, and there was not enough wood on the shot to clear mid-off - where Bond took a well-judged catch under a high ball.

Gibbs continued to bat against type in an 84-ball 50 which contained just two fours and that six. But just when it seemed he might be about to cash in, he was undone by McMillan's lack of pace and bounce - jamming a ball down on to his pad before it rolled back to disturb his stumps.

That was to be the first of three wickets to fall for just 21 runs to McMillan, Prince disappointingly chipping a catch to long-off and Mark Boucher trying to go big but failing to beat the boundary fielder in the same position.

South Africa were therefore left to rely on their famed deep batting resources - which on this occasion managed to grab 55 in the last 10 overs.

South Africa: AB de Villiers, Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Robin Peterson, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini.

New Zealand: Peter Fulton, Stephen Fleming (captain), Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Jeetan Patel.