Enter the scourge of SA - Shane Warne. He made an immediate impact, taking three wickets in his first two overs. Inevitably, he struck again in his second spell and finished with figures of 4/29, winning the Man-of-the-Match Award in what many believe to be the best ODI ever played.

KEY SA MOMENTS:

(1) "You've just dropped the World Cup mate": In a Super Sixes match Australia had to win to progress to the last four, SA set a challenging 271, with opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs scoring a well-played 101. In reply, the Aussies were struggling at 48/3.

Skipper Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting stabilised the innings somewhat. With Waugh on 56, he clipped the ball straight to Gibbs at mid-wicket - Gibbs caught it, but when he attempted to throw the ball in the air to celebrate the dismissal, he dropped it. Waugh stood his ground and was given not out by the umpires.

The stubborn Aussie skipper never looked back, scoring a superb - and savage - unbeaten 120, seeing Australia to a five-wicket victory with two balls to spare. Little did anybody know how much that result would affect the rest of the tournament...

(2) That Klusener-Donald mix-up: South Africa restricted Australia to 213 in the second semi-final at Edgbaston, thanks mainly to some fine bowling by Shaun Pollock (5/36) and Allan Donald (4/32).

During the South African innings, the momentum ebbed and flowed, as both teams played superbly.

Then, in the final over, with the scores tied and one Proteas wicket left, a horrible mix-up between Donald and Player-of-the-Tournament Lance Klusener saw SA crash out. After swatting two successive fours off Damien Fleming, the third ball produced no run, before pandemonium struck on the fourth ball; Klusener made his ground, but Donald was left stranded, and bat-less, in the middle of the wicket and the Aussies went crazy.

The match was tied, but due to SA's loss to Australia in the Super Sixes, the Aussies went through to the final.