Australia march on

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Having swept aside all opponents - including final opponents Sri Lanka - on their route to the last four, Australia were expected to be finally given a competitive test on the slow pitch at the Beausejour Stadium.

But instead of being stretched by South Africa, the team nearest to them in the ICC world rankings, Australia simply romped to a seven wickets victory with 18.3 overs remaining despite losing Adam Gilchrist in the second over of their reply.

The comprehensive triumph extends their unbeaten World Cup run to a staggering 28 matches stretching back to the 1999 World Cup.

It would also have to go down as one of their easier outings during that unbeaten run as they broke the back of South Africa's challenge inside the first 10 overs of their innings when the Proteas slumped to 27 for five.

Left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken bowled captain Graeme Smith as he advance down the wicket to the 15th ball of the day and Jacques Kallis followed in similar fashion when he missed a yorker from the 37-year-old McGrath three overs later.

Tait, bristling with aggression, induced opener AB de Villiers into a tentative prod behind but South Africa's downfall was effectively sealed in the next over when McGrath removed Ashwell Prince eand Mark Boucher from successive balls to take his tally for the tournament to 25 wickets to eclipse Chaminda Vaas' World Cup record of 23 set four years ago.

Herschelle Gibbs (39) and Justin Kemp (49 not out) provided some respectability to the final total of 149, however the tail had no answer to the pace of Shaun Tait who finished with 39 for four.

Needing an early breakthrough to stand any chance of upsetting the odds, South Africa were given it with Langeveldt swinging the ball through Gilchrist's defences with his first delivery.

But, after catain Ricky Ponting fell for 22, Michael Clarke successfully guided his side home with an unbeaten 60 off 86 balls and shared a 66-run stand with opener Matthew Hayden, who fell with just 40 runs needing when Smith ran back from mid-on to take the catch off Shaun Pollock.