Cricket World Cup History: Ranking the top three semi-finals in World Cups

#2 South Africa vs New Zealand (2015)

South Africa vs New Zealand

In the 2015 World Cup that was played in Australia and New Zealand, the Kiwis topped the Pool A with six wins while the Proteas finished second in Pool B. New Zealand and South Africa advanced to the semi-finals by defeating West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively in the last eight.

They faced each other in the first semi-final at Auckland which turned out to be a high-voltage encounter. It was a matter of making it to the finals as neither of them had played a world cup final. It was a seesaw battle that went down to the wire. Batting first, South Africa put on 281 in 43 overs in a rain-affected affair, thanks to a late blitz by David Miller.

Chasing a revised target of 298 in 43 overs, the Kiwis got off to a terrific start, scoring 71 in just 6.1 overs. However, they kept losing their top order at regular intervals and with the score at 149 for 4, Grant Elliott stitched a 103-run partnership with Corey Anderson before the latter was dismissed. Elliot, who was the architect of this chase, kept going as Luke Ronchi too was dismissed soon.

With 12 needed off the last over, Vettori squeezed a boundary on to the off side. With five runs needed off two balls, Elliott finished off things with a huge six off Dale Steyn over the long-on boundary. Every South African player was devastated, with tears rolling down from AB de Villiers' cheeks.

In what seemed like a top run for South Africa, their hopes of clinching a World Cup yet again came crashing down.