Australia captain Michael Clarke expects temperamental opener David Warner to be on his best behaviour in Thursday's World Cup semi-final against India, but Mitchell Johnson is ready to step up the sledging war.

Distraught South Africa captain AB de Villiers laid the blame for the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand on a string of costly errors led by his own failure to run out Corey Anderson.

South Africa-born Grant Elliott's brilliant 84 not out, capped with a stunning six off the penultimate ball, saw New Zealand to a four-wicket win over the Proteas in a cliffhanger World Cup semi-final at Auckland's Eden Park on Tuesday. 

After years of South Africa being lumbered with the "chokers" tag, captain AB de Villiers boldly declared Monday the World Cup was theirs for the taking this time.

New Zealand and South Africa clash in the World Cup semi-finals at Auckland`s Eden Park on Tuesday hoping to end years of pain and near-misses. Both sides, who between them have appeared in nine semi-finals without reaching the final, have met expectations by making the last four.

They are leaders who back their instincts and make spur of their moment decisions; they are masterminds who are used to each of their decisions, some made in split seconds, coming under the microscope for long examinations. The captains of four teams face their most challenging few days, calmly plotting a route through to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 crown.

Watching sport can be an irksome exercise in anxiousness. You watch, you admire, curse, praise, fight over, imitate, applaud, weep, scream, proselytize and even evangelise. But, there is hardly anything you do that can affect what happens on screen, or at the ground, or in your idol's mind.

Cricket extraordinaire Brian Lara said on Sunday that ICC’s decision to fine fast bowler Wahab Riaz following Pakistan’s defeat to Australia on Friday was “uncalled for”, while offering to pay for it himself.

Quinton de Kock stopped his celebrations midway. The 22-year-old stood, just as the rest of SCG, to bid adieu to the two legends. It wasn't the end that Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene had envisaged for themselves, but then life doesn't always follow scripts.

Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq admitted not scoring a century will remain a lifelong regret as the curtain fell on his 162-match, one-day career following defeat in the World Cup quarter-finals. 

World Cups are grand tournaments and very often they descry grand retirements. One such retirement came to pass after Sri Lanka's quarterfinal defeat by South Africa on Wednesday, that of Mahela Jayawardene.