KEY POINTS:
Say what you like about the New Zealand one-day side but they seldom make the same mistake twice.
The team who got everything so completely wrong in last week's World Cup outing against Sri Lanka made amends in emphatic style yesterday, thumping South Africa by five wickets and cementing a berth in the tournament semifinals.
Blessed by a favourable call at the toss, a pitch that was almost tailor-made for their attack and a one-dimensional opponent, New Zealand made all the running in the showdown and never allowed the South Africans into the game.
This was in stark contrast to their effort against Sri Lanka where they batted first instead of bowling, erred by leaving out off-spinner Jeetan Patel, and then proceeded to squander catches and concede runs during a ragged fielding effort.
Having learned an abject lesson, Stephen Fleming this time ensured his team were ideally equipped for the challenge, and played a central hand as New Zealand cruised to the win with 10 balls and five wickets remaining.
The win, fuelled by brilliant opening spells from Shane Bond and James Franklin, a cameo bowling performance from Craig McMillan and some searching spin from Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel, means New Zealand still have a chance of finishing the Super Eights in pole position.
A win in their final Super Eights match against Australia on Saturday could mean they either finish in top slot or equal on points with the neighbours, depending on how the defending champs go against Sri Lanka tomorrow.
The issue is an important one for the New Zealanders, because a top-seeding would throw them into a 1 v 4 semifinal on Thursday week at St Lucia, probably against South Africa or England and on a pitch that might play into their hands.
"We learned a lot from the last game we played, we corrected some mistakes and I thought we didn't put a foot wrong," said Fleming. "We realised there was some good assistance in the surface through the first 10-15 overs, and we used that well.
"It was a spot-on bowling performance."
Fleming acknowledged the conditions largely paved the way for New Zealand's shock tactics at the day's start but said his team still had to be good enough to harness that and make it count at the right time.
"If I'm right I think Graeme [Smith] said he would've batted anyway," said Fleming.
"We were desperate to win and we knew we'd get some assistance for a while given the nature of the wicket. But it was a big advantage for us, particularly as we'd learned from what happened last time."
Having reduced the South Africans to two for three in the second over of the game, Fleming received outstanding value from Vettori and Patel, who expertly tied up the middle stages of the innings while conceding a total of 86 off 20 overs.
Vettori, who snared Jacques Kallis' wicket in his first over, was even overshadowed to a degree by off-spinner Patel, who demonstrated wonderful control and economy while giving up just 36 runs off his full allotment.
"I was really happy with the way I bowled today," Patel said. "I thought I showed a lot of composure through the first eight overs at least. I was quite conscious of that effort."
But the real destroyer in the attack was part-timer McMillan, who was taken aback to be thrown the ball midway through the innings, but responded with his first wickets in three World Cup tournaments.
Herschelle Gibbs, setting himself for a big contribution after collecting 60 off 100 balls, played on in McMillan's first over; Ashwell Prince lifted a drive to Patel and Mark Boucher holed out to Jacob Oram in the deep.
Fleming said he opted to use McMillan because his usual part-timer - Scott Styris - was looking a fraction jaded.
"They're very similar but Scotty's probably had a couple of big days and the zip wasn't there," he said. "Macka has the ability to get a wicket out of the blue and he did that today - getting three was a massive bonus."
New Zealand had few problems overhauling the target after Fleming - despite being dropped twice - raised his 49th ODI half-century, and Scott Styris' 56 boosted his tournament figures to 435 runs at 108.75.
Brendon McCullum eventually put the South Africans out of their misery, smacking his first ball to the extra cover boundary.
Kallis blames pitch for defeat
South African vice-captain Jacques Kallis has panned the Grenada National Stadium pitch, saying it played like a first morning test surface during the first couple of hours yesterday, and placed far too much influence on the toss.
Speaking after South Africa had been restricted to 193-7 on the newly laid pitch block, Kallis said it wasn't good for the game when the conditions played such a major part in the result, and felt his side did well to get as close as they did.
"It's frustrating when conditions play such a big role in the game," he said. "The toss was vital and through the first 20 overs it was like playing on a green test wicket."
South Africa, who scored 356-4 against the West Indies at the same ground last week, were stunned by the intensity of New Zealand's opening overs, and limped through to their total on a drying surface.
"Getting near 200 was a good effort. Maybe 10 or 15 more runs may have made a difference."
