New Zealand v South Africa: Cricket World Cup semi-final – as it happened

That’s all from me. Thanks for your time and your attention. It’s been one of the great World Cup semi-finals, I think - here’s hoping the tournament’s final two fixtures live up to this ludicrously high standard. Bye!

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15h ago21:17

Brendon McCullum’s post-match ponderings, or at least those of them I could get down.

It’s pretty amazing. I thought the game was outstanding. It was a great advertisement for cricket and I’m sure everyone here will remember it for the rest of their lives, I know we will.

What was I thinking when it rained? Keep raining. There were two very destructive batsmen at the crease and set. We just knew we had to hang in there. Even with the bat, we had to hang in there and give ourselves a chance near the end. What an innings from Grant, he’s come in from the wilderness not long ago, and now he’s won the semi-final.

We had to generate some sort of run rate early when you’re chasing such a big score, and that’s what we tried to do. Credit to South Africa, they’ve been a credit to their country and have given us one hell of a run today.

It’s the greatest time of our lives as players. It’s been an incredible ride all the way through. I hope they’re all dreaming as much as what we are. We’ve got a huge occasion in a few days time, and jeez it’d be nice to win it.

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15h ago21:13

AB de Villiers speaks.

An amazing game of cricket. Probably the most electric crowd I’ve ever heard in my life. I think the better team came out on top. We gave it our best, we left everything out there on the field. We don’t go back with any regrets, but we had our chances. It’ll take us a while to get over this.

There’s a bigger picture, people back home. We play to make a difference back home, and hopefully the people can still be proud of us no matter that we lost tonight.

I felt we had a wonderful thing going as a team in this tournament. I don’t want to single out any individuals, but really good individual performances throughout the tournament.

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15h ago21:10

Still waiting to hear from the captains, as New Zealand enjoy a victory lap. What fine, fine sport that was. Infinite credit to both teams.

 AB de Villiers of South Africa composes himself. Photograph: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Updated at 9.49pm AEST

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15h ago21:06

Grant Elliott steps up to collect the player of the match award.

I don’t think this win is for myself, it’s not for the team, but it’s for everyone here. The support has been amazing. I think we timed the pace of the innings to perfection. When you’ve got 40,000 fans screaming at you every ball, it’s been an absolute pleasure playing at Eden Park. We’ve had a good run. It’s the first final we’ve been in. We’re a very level team. i think we’ll just approach it as every other game.

What was going through my mind at the end? Nothing. I don’t even know where the ball went.

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15h ago21:03

Fantastic sportsmanship from South Africa, to wipe the tears from their eyes - literally, in many cases - and embrace the victors, after being put through the wringer like that. They had their chances, with a couple of run-out opportunities and that drop in the penultimate over, probably decisive, and will never know what they might have scored had rain not fallen.

 A nice bit of sportsmanship from Morne Morkel as he congratulates Brendon McCullum. Photograph: Ross Setford/AP

Updated at 9.42pm AEST

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15h ago20:59

And ... exhale. What a brilliantly dramatic game. South Africa’s players are strewn around the ground, in various stages of physical or emotional disarray. New Zealand celebrate. Fireworks dirty the night sky. Fantastic.

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15h ago20:57

New Zealand are in the World Cup final!

42.5 overs: New Zealand 299-6 (Elliott 84, Vettori 7)

SIX RUNS! Elliott sends the ball flying high over midwicket, and New Zealand win by four wickets with a ball to spare!

 Thwack. New Zealand are in the World Cup Final courtesy of the bat of Grant Elliott. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

Updated at 9.24pm AEST

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15h ago20:56

42.4 overs: New Zealand 293-6 (Elliott 78, Vettori 7)

Vettori plays and misses again, and they run a bye again, as South Africa shy at the stumps at each end and miss both times. New Zealand need four runs to tie, from two balls. A tie would see them through. Five runs to win.

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15h ago20:55

42.3 overs: New Zealand 292-6 (Elliott 78, Vettori 7)

Four runs! Steyn attempts a wide yorker, and Vettori stretches to get bat to it, and sends it to the boundary at square third man!