SYDNEY: South Africa left New Zealand needing 298 for victory in just 43 overs after their World Cup semifinal in Auckland on Tuesday was interrupted by rain, as co-hosts Australia got ready for their last four clash with defending champions India.

Between them, New Zealand and South Africa have appeared in nine semifinals without reaching a World Cup final.

But they both have a chance to put that unwanted record behind them at Auckland’s Eden Park.

South Africa, who won the toss and batted, overcame a shaky start to recover to 216 for three off 38 overs.

But with Faf du Plessis and skipper AB de Villiers going well, rain then stopped play. When the match resumed after two hours, it had been reduced to a 43 overs per side clash.

Two balls after the resumption, du Plessis was given out caught behind down the legside on review without adding to his 82, to end a stand of 103 with his skipper.

But David Miller’s blistering 49 off just 18 balls helped South Africa finish on 281 for five — the Proteas scoring 65 in their last five overs.

That left the Black Caps with a stiff revised victory target of 298 under the Duckworth/Lewis method for rain-affected matches.

De Villiers, who after being dropped on 38 when Kane Williamson failed to hold a tough leaping chance at short cover, hit his next three balls for a six and two fours before finishing on 65 not out.

New Zealand were forced to hastily rearrange their squad Monday after paceman Adam Milne was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a heel injury and replaced by Matt Henry.

Fast bowler Henry was immediately called into the side and responded well, initially, with his first five overs costing just nine runs. But his next three cost 31.

“Credit to the South Africa batsman to push on to 280 plus,” said New Zealand paceman Trent Boult, who removed Proteas openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock on his way to figures of two for 53 in nine overs.

“It will take some chasing but we feel we can do it. We are familiar with this ground and it is up to us now.”

New Zealand opener Martin Guptill is in fine form after his stunning World Cup-record 237 not out against the West Indies during a comfortable quarter-final win in Wellington last weekend.

However, Guptill’s record against South Africa is relatively poor with a total of 115 runs scored in 11 matches and five of his last six innings against the Proteas producing single-figure scores.

Thursday’s second semifinal at the Sydney Cricket Ground threatens to be more of an ‘away’ match than a home game for Australia, with 70 percent of a sold-out 42,000 ticket allocation taken up by India fans.

If the pitch suits spinners, as has been the case at the SCG, India — with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in their side — will feel that conditions are very familiar.

In the build-up to the World Cup, India endured a wretched tour of Australia where they failed to win a Test or a match in the triangular one-day series also featuring England.

But Australia opener Aaron Finch played down talk of his side having a psychological edge on Thursday.

“We played some really good cricket against India earlier in the summer. Now they have played beautifully throughout this World Cup. Undefeated so far, the team has grown in confidence,” said Finch.

Recent Australia-India matches have produced plenty of verbal fireworks.

However, volatile Australia opener David Warner, censured during both the Test and one-day series, will need to be especially careful on Thursday as a third breach of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct could see him banned from the March 29 final in Melbourne.