New Zealand will lick their wounds and assess their walking wounded today after losing by one run to South Africa at Lord's.

New Zealand will lick their wounds and assess their walking wounded today after losing by one run to South Africa at Lord's.

The injury-hit Black Caps lost their final group match of the World Twenty20 when Jacob Oram failed to hit the last ball for four, chasing a paltry 129-run target.

Off the field, they have serious injury problems and they start the Super Eights stage of the competition tomorrow against Ireland with concern lingering over captain Daniel Vettori (shoulder), James Franklin (knee) and Jesse Ryder (groin).

To make matters worse, Ross Taylor tweaked a hamstring late in the chase and batted on in discomfort.

Good Moments

"We will find out in the next few hours what will happen," said stand-in captain Brendon McCullum, whose fifth half-century in six 20-over internationals proved in vain.

"Whether those guys will be available for the remainder of the tournament, the next game or not at all."

Of Taylor continuing, he added: "It was my decision as he's a guy that's capable of hitting the ball out of the park.

"I wasn't asking for him to run too much. It was just about him trying to swing from the hip.

"If he could have hit one or two over the rope that could have been the difference in the game and I didn't think it was going to cause him too much damage either."

New Zealand appeared well placed at 57 for two at the halfway stage but lost impetus, particularly against left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe, who finished with figures of 4-0-14-2.

"Once the pace was taken off the ball, it got a lot harder to score on," said McCullum of the used surface.

"Any time you don't come out of a game with a win you are obviously disappointed about it.

"We fielded and bowled incredibly well but our batting struggled for momentum throughout the innings."

Van der Merwe claimed the wickets of both Taylor and McCullum as the Proteas showed their credentials under pressure.

"I am not too bothered about taking wickets," he said. "I like containing.

"The pitch helped me a little bit because there was some turn and bounce."

Top Performer

South Africa captain Graeme Smith added: "In terms of the bigger picture, it was brilliant for us to have a high-pressure game."

They now face England in the first game of the next round, and are expecting a serious test.

"We are preparing like we are getting the England that played Pakistan," Smith said. "England have some great players and this is a great challenge for us.

"We have played some good cricket since we arrived here."