Close South Africa 270 for 5 (Rhodes 107*, Pollock 69*, Boucher 58, Nash 3-37) beat New Zealand 203 for 8 (McMillan 46) by 67 runs
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South Africa qualified for the best-of-three finals in stunning fashion after claiming the all-important bonus point to move top of the group, one point ahead of New Zealand, who have now played all their group matches.

It was a comeback of Lazarus proportions. Tottering at 35 for 4 after an inspired, incisive new-ball burst from Dion Nash, South Africa were rescued by the scampering Jonty Rhodes, who finished unbeaten on 107, the audacious Mark Boucher (58), and a cameo of awesome hitting from Shaun Pollock, who smashed six sixes, four of them in succession off James Franklin, and finished on 69 off 34 balls.

New Zealand needed to reach 216 to deny South Africa the bonus point, but lost Nathan Astle for a duck, and never quite recovered. And yet, New Zealand still have a good chance of edging out Australia. It all depends on the result of Sunday's match at Perth, where Australia have to beat South Africa and claim a bonus point if they are to deny New Zealand. It is a suitably thrilling conclusion to the closest triangular tournament for years. (How the points system works)

A place in the final for South Africa had looked light-years away after Nash cut through the top order, finding swerve, pace and seam movement to justify fully Stephen Fleming's decision to bowl first. But it was the left-handed Franklin who struck first as Gary Kirsten fended to second slip and was out for a duck (10 for 1).

Then Nash got gnashing. Herschelle Gibbs fell for 8, caught by Fleming at slip (14 for 2), and Neil McKenzie was bowled by an inducker for 3 (23 for 3). But the ball of the day was reserved for South Africa's best batsman: Jacques Kallis pushed down the line of middle stump only for the ball to zip back, beat the outside edge and cannon into off. Kallis was out for 11 (35 for 4), and New Zealand appeared to have one foot in the finals.

But Rhodes and Boucher love it when their backs are against the wall. Singles were stolen, some were turned into twos, and the fielders were run ragged. Slowly but irresistibly a match-losing position was turned on its head. The strike rotated more often than a helicopter's blade. Boucher had reached 58 when he chipped Chris Harris to Nathan Astle at midwicket, but he had added 138 with Rhodes and South Africa were back in it.

Enter Pollock. His second scoring stroke was a front-foot pull off Scott Styris for six, but even that paled besides what was to come. Badly dropped on 26 by Harris at cover, Pollock took strike for the penultimate over of the innings, bowled by Franklin, with South Africa a respectable 225 for 5. He began with a two, but then struck the second ball, of good length, over long-on for six with a scything blow. Astonishingly, Pollock repeated the stroke off the next two balls – six! six! – and when Franklin dropped the fifth short, Pollock pulled ferociously for a fourth six in a row. A single made it 29 off the over, and Pollock added another six in the last over, from Andre Adams. New Zealand had been Pollocked, and they staggered shellshocked from the field. It was easy to forget that Rhodes, the agitator supreme, had already completed a century of wit, innovation and skill. He and Pollock had added 97 in 55 balls.

Inevitably, perhaps, New Zealand lost an early wicket. It was a big one too, as Astle nicked Makhaya Ntini to slip to depart for a duck (4 for 0). Things didn't get much better. Andre Adams, promoted to pinch-hit, top-edged Ntini to Boucher, to fall for 10 (22 for 2), and Lou Vincent, on 22, edged Allan Donald to Boucher (61 for 3). When Fleming was caught behind off Kallis after cruising to 27 New Zealand were virtually out of on 72 for 4.

No-one could do a Pollock. Craig McMillan got closest, and even pulled Donald for six, but his 41-ball 46 ended when he cut Donald to third man. At 129 for 5, it was simply a question of whether New Zealand would reach 217 and deny South Africa a bonus point.

In fact, it wasn't even in their interests to get that far: a bonus-points win for South Africa meant that Australia would only be able to qualify with a similar victory themselves on Sunday. It wasn't clear whether New Zealand realised this, but as wickets continued to fall and the score reached 130 for 7, this didn't matter anyway. Adam Parore and Daniel Vettori hung around until the end, and New Zealand were left hoping that the side who had just thrashed them would do them a favour by avoiding a thrashing of their own in two days' time.

A bizarre state of affairs, but then – thanks to Rhodes and Pollock – it had been a bizarre day.

Teams
New Zealand 1 Nathan Astle, 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Craig McMillan, 5 Chris Harris, 6 Scott Styris, 7 Adam Parore (wk), 8 Dion Nash, 9 Daniel Vettori, 10 Andre Adams, 11 James Franklin.

South Africa 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Gary Kirsten, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Neil McKenzie, 5 Jonty Rhodes, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Shaun Pollock (capt), 8 Nicky Boje, 9 Justin Kemp, 10 Allan Donald, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

Tanya Aldred and Lawrence Booth are assistant editors of Wisden.com.

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