South Africa vs New Zealand, 15th Match at Johannesburg, Feb 16 2003 - Ball by Ball Commentary

The entire New Zealand team come all the way down from their enclosure on to the field to celebrate and congratulate the heroes Fleming and Astle, particularly the captain, talk about leading from the front, a brilliant knock. unquestionably the greatest he has ever played in an ODI, perhaps in his entire international career spanning the best part of a decade

A lot of the crowd remain, just standing there, looking, silently, stunned, in awe, wondering if what they just witnessed really happened

South Africa suddenly sit in a very dangerous position on the table with just 1 win from 3 matches, and that was over lowly Kenya, and with Pool B being incredibly tight, this loss and the thrilling opening loss to the West Indies may come back to haunt

The New Zealand players circle around the ground, saluting the crowd, there are some claps, but it's mostly rather quiet, there is a solid little contingent of Kiwi fans though, and they got more than their money's worth today

Fleming gritted down early in his knock, saw through the trickly early overs from world class duo Pollock and Ntini, a fearsome combination in recent times, and typically in such improbably chases needing more than run-a-ball from the start of the chase

New Zealand have often lost a clutch of wickets going for a lot of big money strokes, but today it was intelligent cricket at its finest, Fleming pacing himself, picking off bad balls, occasionally improvising to break up line and length bowlers' rhythm, and slowly but steadily Pollock's game plan fell apart as to how to deal with it - every new bowler got collared early on, making it impossible for them to settle, forcing more bowling changes, and the constant right/left-hand batting combination at the rotating the strike frequently at the crease just added to the torment, and just as impressively, despite two lengthy interruptions for rain/technical problems, the batsmen settled back into their duties as if there was no stoppages at all

Boucher will want to forget this game in a hurry, after dropping Fleming when on 53 with New Zealand 88/0 in the 14th over at that stage, and though McMillan nicked one to him in the next over, it was the wicket of Fleming which was the key today

New Zealand's World Cup may now be transformed from disaster to potential power position in the space of one game (well, really two games, after the must-win affair against the West Indies prior too)

Their likely forfeiture to Kenya means they're not in a position of safety just yet, but will keenly await the outcome of other matches yet to be played, and wouldn't mind seeing South Africa beating Sri Lanka in a critical forthcoming game amazingly, just a few days ago New Zealand had failed to win a game on South African soil in 13 attempts, now they've won two on the trot, and for the first time they've beaten South Africa on their home turf for the first time in 9 attempts and just their second win over South Africa in their last 19 ODIs (3 no results included in that however)

Stephen Fleming has been announced as Man of the Match to nobody's surprise, he'll remember that knock for many, many years to come that concludes CricInfo's coverage of this remarkable encounter at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, please join us for continuing coverage of the World Cup, ball by ball to the very conclusion on March 23

Until then it's goodbye from us - any comments about our coverage today can be sent to comms@cricinfo.com - all feedback is greatly appreciated

Kallis, like Pollock and Ntini now, has bowled out his 8 overs maximum, so it's Donald to return to the bowling crease from the Corlett Drive End

Pollock brings more of the field in belatedly, but it's surely too late now

There are a lot of shaken, stirred and worried faces in the crowd, not quite believing that the home nation, the second best ODI team in the world at present, is on the verge of going into sudden death mode so early in this World Cup

12 needed from 24 balls, South Africa look completely disheartened, this pair have come out and controlled things as they did before the rain break

Pollock brings himself back on, for one last miraculously throw of the dice

Astle brings up his 50 in 52 balls, just 4x4, almost an anonymous knock played in Fleming's shadow today

Just 18 needed from 5 overs to win now, New Zealand on course for a famous victory now