AUCKLAND — South Africa batsman David Miller believes his side is ready for a journey into the “unknown” when they face New Zealand in a World Cup semifinal in Auckland Tuesday. Since being allowed into cricket's showpiece event in 1992 ahead of the collapse of apartheid, South Africa has failed to get past the semifinal stage on three occasions and is still awaiting a maiden World Cup final appearance. New Zealand's record is even worse, with the Black Caps having lost all six of their previous World Cup semifinals. Yet it is the Proteas who carry the unwanted tag of ‘chokers', a label they went some way to removing with a thumping nine-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals — South Africa's first victory in the knockout phase of any World Cup. “It's something that's the unknown,” said Miller Sunday of the prospect of playing either Australia or defending champion India, who meet in the second semi in Sydney Thursday, in the March 29 final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground “It's a very exciting time. In eight days we could be world champions but it's just one step at a time, take things slowly as they come,” Miller added. Tuesday's semifinal takes place at Eden Park. Better known as a rugby venue, the ground's short straight boundaries were expected to lead to a glut of fours and sixes during the World Cup. However, Eden Park has staged two low-scoring thrillers during the tournament — New Zealand's one-wicket win over fellow co-host Australia and Pakistan's 29-run defeat of South Africa. Nevertheless, the big-hitting Miller is aiming to cash in any way he can. “Hopefully, I can mishit a few straight sixes,” he said. “That's just the way the field is and it's cool to be playing on it.” The 25-year-old Miller, appearing in his first World Cup, started the tournament with a career-best 138 not out in a win over Zimbabwe in Hamilton. The left-hander has made two subsequent 40s, but he fell for a duck at Eden Park during the loss to Pakistan in pool play. However, Miller said he hoped his previous experience of Eden Park would prove beneficial. “It's my first time in New Zealand so it's good to have already played a game here and just to get the feel of the ground itself, the dimensions of the field,” he said. “It's just something to get used to and obviously the feel of the crowd. It's going to be huge Tuesday.” Eden Park no run-scoring paradise, says Elliott South Africa and New Zealand jointly boast some of the biggest hitters in world cricket and Eden Park has the shortest boundaries of any established and regularly-used international cricket stadium. The outcome seems inevitable — a contest of record-breaking scores. But New Zealand all-rounder Grant Elliott — who can view the stadium as both a batsman and bowler — says that while the ground's straight boundaries are among the shortest in world cricket it shouldn't be taken for granted that bat will always prevail over ball. He can point in evidence to results on the ground in this tournament. When New Zealand played Australia at Eden Park in one of the most-anticipated matches in pool play, it bowled out the Australians for 151, then lost nine wickets in surpassing that total. — Agencies Swing bowlers dominated: Trent Boult took 5-27 for New Zealand, Mitchell Starc 6-28 for Australia, only one batsman reached 50 and there were only 11 sixes. When South Africa played Pakistan on the ground in a rain-shortened match, Pakistan's 222 played South Africa's 202 all out. The highest score on Eden Park in this tournament has been India's wining 288-4 against Zimbabwe. “Bowlers come into it a lot more. If it's not swinging on the day then you can expect anything at Eden Park,” Elliot said. “It's quite a strange ground in the sense that it looks small and some teams get sucked in to those small boundaries. But the totals are not generally as high as you would expect.” — Agencies
