He may have become a national hero the moment he sent the ball sailing over the ropes for a six that secured New Zealand's stunning four-wicket victory over South Africa, but Grant Elliott felt he had some apologising to do after firing his country to the Cricket World Cup final.

With the Black Caps' sights now set firmly on Sunday's showpiece in Melbourne - where they will face either fellow co-hosts Australia or India - Elliott will be forced to miss his sister's wedding on Friday.

So, after scoring 84 runs and striking the crucial blow that took New Zealand to their first World Cup final with a ball to spare, Elliott was quick to express his regret at being absent for his sibling's big day.

"My family was here and my sister has got a wedding on Friday. Unfortunately I'll miss her wedding," the South African-born batsman explained. "If you can put that in the press and say I'm sorry. 

"I saw her earlier, she was pretty happy for me, but yes, I'm going to have to give her a special gift, I think".

Asked whether his match-winning boundary was the best shot of his career, Elliott replied: "I guess it is. I really did feel the pressure. I felt the pressure. I had two balls, Dan [Vettori] said we weren't going to run to the keeper again, so it was up to me.

"I had two balls to try and take us. I knew that four runs would do it because a tie was as good as a win, so that was always in the back of my mind".

However, Elliott was in no mood to rub salt into South African wounds.

He added: "I felt quite sorry for a lot of the South African guys for losing the game. It could have been us, it could have been me sitting there having missed the last two balls and I would have been pretty gutted, as well, along with 40,000 people in the stadium, I'm sure."