The Proteas were bottling another game on the big stage and a horror scenario was starting to fall into place for New Zealand cricket fans.
Not Pakistan again! That scab has not healed.
The Netherlands went on to knock the Proteas out of the T20 World Cup and hand Pakistan a lifeline.
That torment bubbled over into torture when Pakistan swept past Bangladesh to secure another semifinal match-up against New Zealand in Sydney tonight.
It is a World Cup clash with more sequels than A Nightmare on Elm Street and just as frightening for Black Caps fans of a certain vintage.
It is not Freddy Krueger haunting them but Inzy — big Inzamam-ul-Haq, who starred in the original.
Pakistan had scraped its way into the 1992 World Cup semifinal and meet an in-form New Zealand team at Eden Park. Martin Crowe was at the top of his game and stroked 91 from 83 balls to get the home team through to a challenging total of 262 for seven.
Pakistan had slipped behind the required run rate, but Inzamam rescued the chase with 60 from 37.
It is hard to explain the impact an innings like that had to people who have grown up watching T20.
At the time, it was simply astonishing stuff and it left an indelible mark on the psyche of New Zealand cricket followers — a bruise that is still tender.
Pakistan was more convincing in the 1999 semifinal. New Zealand made its way to 241 for seven but lost by nine wickets.
Opener Saeed Anwar scored an undefeated 113. Strangely, New Zealand’s dibbly-dobbly bowling attack, which included Gavin Larsen, Chris Harris, Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle, was not up to the task.
It was a much worse defeat than in 1992, but not the one fans cannot shake.
The Black Caps made it through to the semifinals of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, and Pakistan’s Umar Gul took three for 15 in a man-of-the-match performance to help set up a six-wicket win.
Pakistan’s status as New Zealand’s bogey team is not just down to several memorable semifinal losses.
New Zealand and Pakistan have played nine ODI World Cup fixtures and six T20 World Cup games. Pakistan leads the head-to-heads 11-4 and 3-0 in semifinals.
It also beat New Zealand 2-1 during a T20 tri-series in Christchurch last month, so it has form.
New Zealand’s World Cup history is pretty impressive, but also troubling.
The Black Caps seem to fly in under the radar despite boasting a formidable record of reaching the playoffs.
They made the semifinals of the ODI World Cup in 1975, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007 and 2011, and the final in 2015 and 2019.
They have also made two T20 World Cup semifinals (2007, 2016) and the final in 2021.
They had a breakthrough win in the World Test Championship final against India in England last year and came painstakingly close to winning the 2019 World Cup.
But ultimate glory in the white-ball formats has eluded the Black Caps, and so has a semifinal win against Pakistan.
It is time.
T20 World Cup
The semifinal
New Zealand v Pakistan
Sydney, 9pm
