New Zealand v South Africa

At Birmingham, June 10. South Africa won by 74 runs. Toss: South Africa.

South Africa looked like raging bulls determinedly charging along the road to the final as they overwhelmed New Zealand. Taking first use of an excellent pitch, openers Kirsten and Gibbs put on 176 to ease the worries over the top-order batting, which had begun to look unreliable. But Klusener, who had so often rescued them, was promoted to No. 3 and bowled by Larsen for four, his first dismissal in ten one-day international innings since February 17. In that time, he had scored 400 runs, surpassing Javed Miandad's unbeaten run of 398 in seven innings in 1982-83. Klusener's average in this tournament stood at 214. Allott also made his mark on the history books when he bowled Gibbs to pick up his 19th wicket in the competition, going one better than Roger Binny, Craig McDermott and Wasim Akram, who had all taken 18 in previous World Cups.

South Africa's batsmen rattled up their highest total in this tournament - 287 for five, including 53 in 36 balls from Kallis - and New Zealand's self-belief melted under the scoreboard pressure. An unconvincing reply saw them eke out 213; Fleming and the battler Twose, returning to his old county ground, provided the only show of resilience against a fiery attack.

Man of the Match: J. H. Kallis. Attendance: 15,014.