South Africa's survival in the 2007 World Cup just got tougher. In a crucial must-win match for them against New Zealand, they came up against a difficult pitch and an inspired New Zealand team that fielded out of their skins to contain the South Africans to just 192. Defending such a small total was always going to be tough and New Zealand didn't make it easy with a good partnership between captain Stephen Fleming (50) and the in-form Scott Styris (56) taking them along at a slow but steady pace.

The real star for New Zealand, though, was Craig McMillan who returned to the side with a bang. Brought on to bowl at a critical time and break a budding partnership between Ashwell Prince (37) and Herschelle Gibbs (60), he struck thrice to push South Africa from 128/3 to 149/6. From there on, it was a matter of survival and only Shaun Pollock (21) could make any impact.

New Zealand, still smarting from the loss to Sri Lanka, fielded brilliantly and especially so in the first ten overs when South Africa could manage only 12 runs. Statistically speaking, had they managed another 30-odd runs in this period, the story may well have been different. But a bouncy, seaming pitch put paid to any such hopes they may have harboured.

South Africa didn't do themselves any favours either dropping as many as three catches including Scott Styris twice (once by Robin Peterson and once by Mark Boucher). They now have to beat England to have any hopes of going through. Easy as it sounds, South Africa has choked before and the upcoming match against England is the most important one for them in this tournament. Whether England has the stomach for the fight is another matter!

Graeme Smith, who has once again fallen out of form, though, continued to maintain a positive outlook and said he was keen on playing well against England. "The guys are disappointed with losing today but I am not too disappointed with the way we played. Conditions had an influence but all credit to New Zealand and the way they managed to use those conditions to their advantage. I think that's the key," said the South African captain.

New Zealand and Australia are through to the semi-finals; Sri Lanka should make it easily as well. The fight is now truly on for the last remaining spot and it could well be decided on Tuesday.

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