Cricket: Black Caps set up Champions Trophy showdown

Scoreboard

Well-executed strategy, a piece of good fortune and outstanding performances from skipper Daniel Vettori and Grant Elliott contributed to New Zealand's winning recipe in yesterday's Champions Trophy cricket semifinal win over Pakistan in Johannesburg.

Pakistan, who opted to bat after winning the toss, scored 233 for nine and New Zealand surpassed the target with five wickets in hand.

Neil Broom, three not out, stroked the winning run with 2.1 overs to go.

New Zealand, winners of the 2000 tournament, will now meet defending champions Australia in tomorrow morning's final.

Elliott, who was unbeaten on 75, and Vettori put on 104 runs for the fifth wicket after New Zealand looked to have again dug themselves into a hole at 126 for four after 29.5 overs.

Vettori gambled on his recent good form with the bat and promoted himself up the order when Ross Taylor fell for 38.

His batting average from nine previous one-day innings against Pakistan is 5.83 but he proceeded to lash 41 from 42 balls to once again steady the New Zealand ship.

Elliott was meanwhile pacing himself and was on 42 off 78 balls when he received a life from Pakistan captain Younus Khan who spilled an easy catch off the all rounder at cover.

That drop, off Mohammad Aamer, came during an extremely tight period when New Zealand scored only 13 runs off four overs.

With 59 required off the last eight overs, Vettori and Elliott called for the powerplay, and with 10 and 14 coming off the first and third overs, the pressure evaporated.

Elliott, who had passed a last-minute fitness test for a hand injury sustained in the previous game, had hardly played a forceful shot until the batting powerplay was taken.

Elliott, 30, who was born in Johannesburg, cut loose and he and Vettori added 55 runs.

Vettori opened up first, lofting Ajmal, Aamer and Rana for boundaries and Elliott hit two fours and a six off the first three balls of the 46th over, bowled by Umar Gul.

Earlier, New Zealand seamer Ian Butler took four wickets to help restrict Pakistan to 233 for nine.

Butler's first two overs went for 20 runs without success, but he struck in his third and fourth overs, having Shoaib Malik caught for two by Ross Taylor at first slip and Kamran Akmal held by Aaron Redmond on the cover boundary.

Butler later took the wickets of Shahid Afridi for four and Gul for six to finish with 4-44 and reduce Pakistan to 192-8.

The only Pakistan batsmen to show any application were Umar Akmal, who hit 55 off 62 balls with seven fours, and Yousuf, who hit three fours to score 45 off 78 balls.

Umar Akmal and Yousuf added 80 for the fifth wicket before Yousuf was bowled off the inside edge by Kyle Mills when trying to run the ball down to third man.

Four more wickets fell for 32 runs to leave Pakistan on 198-9, but Aamer and Ajmal then added 35 off 5.4 overs.

New Zealand's fast bowlers came in for some punishment at the end of the innings.

Shane Bond, who had applied good pressure with the new ball, conceded 22 runs in his final two overs to finish with one for 54.

Vettori dismissed Khan for 15, Akmal and Naved-ul-Hasan for eight to finish with three for 43.

Vettori said Elliott would need to have his thumb put in a splint for six weeks when the tournament ended.

"Grant played an innings of such character. He had his thumb injected and he couldn't feel it and he just gutsed it out," Vettori said afterwards.

"It was an outstanding 75 and he will be very proud of his innings."

Vettori, who won the man of the match award, said he always wanted to lead by example.

"My main mission as captain is to lead by performance," he said. "Sometimes the actual captaincy side of things is overrated.

"It is about the team and how they perform. I think my team will follow me if I perform.

"We have not played well lately, until this tournament. But there is a belief in this team now."

Pakistan captain Younus Khan blamed his team's defeat on a poor batting display.

"Our batsmen got a couple of good starts but were not able to cash in. Yet again in this tournament we did not take advantage of our powerplays," said Younus. "Daniel's all-round performance was fantastic. He makes a real difference to the New Zealand team."

- NZPA