SA set 222 to enter semi-finals

FE Team | Published: March 26, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Jesse Ryder finally struck World Cup form with a fluent 83 to steer New Zealand to 221-8 in the quarter-final against favourites South Africa Friday, reports AFP. The burly left-hander, who failed to reach 50 in six previous innings in the tournament, delighted some 15,000 fans at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium with eight boundaries. Ryder put on 114 for the third wicket with Ross Taylor after New Zealand, electing to bat in the day-night game, were reduced to 16-2 by the sixth over. New Zealand were sitting pretty at 130-2 in the 33rd over when the Proteas bounced back with three wickets for 26 runs in six overs. Kane Williamson hit an unbeaten 38 towards the end to ensure South Africa chased a 200-plus target for a place in the semi-finals. Seamer Morne Morkel finished with 3-46, while fast bowler Dale Steyn and leg-spinner Imran Tahir picked up two wickets each. "There wasn't a lot of turn there, it was skidding on nicely," said Taylor. "We have got 221 on board and hopefully that's enough. We wanted to keep wickets in hand and use our power down the bottom but obviously things did not work out as we had planned." South Africa's ploy to throw the new ball to a spinner worked again as left-armer Robin Peterson dismissed Brendon McCullum in his second over with a superb diving return catch. It was Peterson's 15th wicket in the tournament behind only Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi (21) and Indian seamer Zaheer Khan (17).