Proteas continue their 'choking' habit in yet another big tournament, Kiwis through to semis

New Zealand wins against South Africa by 49 runs. Proteas continue their 'choking' habit in yet another big tournament, Kiwis through to semis

Jacob Oram stars picking up 4 wickets giving just 39 runs.

A late order collapse by South Africa has put New Zealand in the driver's seat in the second World Cup quarter-finals at Mirpur on Friday.

Earlier, JP Duminy and AB de Villiers fell within the space of a few balls as South Africa lost half their side.

Jacob Oram took a brilliant running catch to dismiss Jacques Kallis off Tim Southee's bowling.
Graeme Smith fell to Jacob Oram as South Africa lost their their second wicket during their World Cup quarter-final clash against New Zealand at Mirpur on Friday.

Earlier, Smith and Jacques Kallis consolidated the South African innings after the loss of Hashim Amla.

Amla's shot deflected off Brendon McCullum's foot and lobbed up for a simple catch to New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

South Africa's bowling unit restricted New Zealand to 221 for eight to give the Proteas the upper hand.

New Zealand, with Vettori returning as captain after two matches out, won the toss and chose to bat but the loss of two early wickets put the Kiwis on the back foot early.

Jesse Ryder (83) and Ross Taylor (43) combined for the third wicket and cautiously guided the team past the 150 mark, but when the New Zealanders tried to increase the scoring rate at the end of the innings, they lost wickets at regular intervals.

Graeme Smith's tactic of rotating his bowlers in short spells and varying his fields was key. Morne Morkel (3-46) taking two wickets in the penultimate over to prevent the late and lofty hitting. Dale Steyn (2-42) and Imran Tahir (2-32) snared two wickets apiece.

Spinners Tahir, Robin Peterson and Johan Botha played central roles in South Africa's progress to the quarterfinal, and New Zealand's response was to include their own spin trio in Vettori, Nathan McCullum and Luke Woodcock, making his World Cup debut in place of injured fast bowler Kyle Mills.
Smith handed Peterson the new ball. The left-arm spinner took two early wickets when Smith tried the same ploy against England, and it worked wonders again.

Peterson took his 15th wicket of the World Cup with a wonderful diving catch to his left to dismiss Brendon McCullum and New Zealand were then 16-2 after Martin Guptill was deceived by a slower ball from Steyn and skied a catch to Botha.

New Zealand set about the task of getting to the final 15 overs with wickets in hand, banking on its big-hitters to deliver in the latter stages as they did in the group stage win over Pakistan.
Ryder had been in poor form so far at this World Cup but after a shaky start, he settled into his stride, leaving the big-hitting Taylor to play a supporting role.

In response, Smith rotated his bowlers in two or three-over bursts and, allied with some sharp fielding and New Zealand's cautiousness, the scoring rate remained under 5 per over.
Ryder celebrated his fifth one-day half-century in the 22nd over, and the 100 partnership came up after 144 balls.

Taylor, who has hit more sixes in the tournament than any other player, managed just one four in an uncharacteristically restrained knock and, just when he looked like releasing the shackles, he was gone.

An over after launching a six over mid-wicket, he tried the same trick against Tahir and holed out to Jacques Kallis.

Scott Styris, Ryder, Nathan McCullum and Jacob Oram followed him back to the dressing room after attempting risky hits, and while Kane Williamson was unbeaten on 38, his ponderous innings featured one six and one four.

Vettori, playing what could be his final World Cup game amid reports he is planning to quit the one-day internationals, was the last wicket to fall when he was bowled by a clever Morkel yorker.