Vettori eyes big finale for little guys

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DHAKA: New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori dismissed suggestions on Saturday that reaching the World Cup semi-finals should be the limit of his team's ambitions.

"I look at it as an achievement for a country so small that we make so many semi-finals. That's a better way to look at it for a country of four million people," he said.

"People may put negative stamps on it but I think it's an achievement for a country like ours."

New Zealand came from behind to upset South Africa by 49 runs in Friday's quarter-final at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium, their fourth win over the fancied rivals in six World Cup encounters.

Vettori's men, restricted to 221-8 after taking first strike in the day-night match, bundled out South Africa for 172 in an exciting finish.

It will be New Zealand's sixth appearance in the semi-finals, where they await the winners of Saturday's match between Sri Lanka and England in Colombo.

"I think the reputation we have is that we can beat any team on a given day," said Vettori.

"But consistency has avoided us a lot of the time, so it's our big chance in the semi-finals to go one or two better."

Vettori said beating South Africa in a crunch game boosted morale, and praised his side for fighting till the end.

"Something around 250 would probably have been a really good score, but we knew 221 was defendable and the way we bowled, and particularly the way we fielded, got us through to the victory."

"I think when we got de Villiers and Kallis out, we all started to believe we could go all the way, the captain said.

"Their top four batsmen have proved themselves for a long, long time and have an excellent track record. They also had a long tail. So we had to take wickets."

South Africa, often regarded as the best team never to have the World Cup, have lost in three semi-finals, two quarter-finals and once in the first round.