South Africa captain AB de Villiers made no bones about just how gutted his team was after losing the Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.

The thrilling last-four encounter had even more drama than anticipated, with the Black Caps eventually coming out on top when Grant Elliott (84 not out off 73) hit a six on what would otherwise have been the second-last ball of their innings.

“It’s really painful. We have no regrets,” de Villiers said.

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“We left everything out here on the field tonight there’s no doubt about that. We had our opportunities here and there so it’ll take us a while to get over this.

“Credit to the New Zealanders – they played a wonderful game of cricket today and all the best to them in the final.”

After South Africa, led by de Villiers (65 not out off 45) and Faf du Plessis (82 off 107), scored 5 for 281 in a rain-shortened innings, Duckworth/Lewis pushed New Zealand’s target for victory to 298 from 43 overs.

In a see-sawing innings, both teams spent time with their noses in front at various points, but South Africa was left to count the cost after missing chances in the field to let both Elliott and Corey Anderson (58 off 57) off the hook.

“I was pretty happy with the total,” de Villiers said.

“We had our chances in the field in the latter stages of the game, we didn’t take that and [were brought] undone by a team that probably just played better than us today.”

While the superstar batsman credited this year’s first finalists with outplaying his team, any gap between the two sides was infinitesimal.

As a result, the atmosphere was spectacular throughout both innings at the Eden Park cauldron, with the capacity crowd riding every delivery and shot.

Good sport: Grant Elliott and Dale Steyn after the war was won. Photo: Getty

Despite being the villain for most of Auckland faithful, de Villiers said he relished the experience of playing in one of the best games in World Cup history on Tuesday.

“You’ve gotta get over those obstacles to win a World Cup,” said de Villiers, who led the Proteas to their maiden knockout win last week.

“We expected that and it was an amazing vibe here tonight, an electric vibe, and probably the best crowd I’ve played in front of.

“It was a very enjoyable experience but we go back with sore hearts.”

“Stressful towards the end there”

Elliott’s decisive blow against the country of his birth sent the Black Caps into their first World Cup final.

“That’s the moment you feel a release of emotion,” he said.

“It was a great feeling for the team. You look at the crowd and you savour that moment and realise you’ve reached the final.”

Set a challenging target of 298 in a semi-final reduced by rain to 43 overs a side, the Black Caps finished on 6-299, with Elliott unbeaten on 84.

He said he felt the pressure of the situation, with five needed from the last two balls for victory.

But he was also conscious a tie would have been enough to make the final because New Zealand finished higher than South Africa in the pool stage.

“I knew it was up to me,” the 36-year-old said.

“I had two balls to take us home.

“The chase, we probably left it a bit late, to be honest. It was stressful towards the end there.”

The delivery that Elliott lofted over the long-on boundary came from Dale Steyn and, afterwards, he went over to comfort the paceman.

“You have to feel compassion,” he said.

“I felt quite sorry for him and quite sorry for a lot of the South African guys.

“It could have been us. It could have been me sitting there, having missed the last two balls. I would have been pretty gutted as well.”