Lahore: Loaded with world-class talent but haunted by the underachievers’ tag at ICC events, New Zealand and South Africa will square off in an evenly-matched second semifinal of the Champions Trophy here on Wednesday.
South Africa and New Zealand have won the Champions Trophy once each in 1998 and 2000 respectively but the tournament was called the ICC Knockout Trophy at that time and didn’t carry the significance which it has now.
While South Africa would look to shed their big tournament “chokers” tag, the Kiwis will also be desperate to lay their hands on a title after having finished second best twice in the ODI World Cup (2015 and 2019) and once in the T20 World Cup (2021).
Led by Mitchell Santner, New Zealand finished behind India in Group A, while South Africa topped Group B ahead of Australia.
But there is little to separate the two sides. Both are evenly-matched in most departments but the Proteas look to be slightly ahead on the bowling front because of variety.
The two teams have enough firepower in their batting line-ups and have quality fielders but the contest is expected to be decided by the spinners.
Although the pitches here are a bit on the slower side but they haven’t spun as much as the surfaces in Dubai and it will be interesting to see how the spinners of both the teams fare.
The 44-run loss to India in their last group match notwithstanding, New Zealand will take confidence from their win over South Africa in the tri-series here last month.
Recently, New Zealand successfully chased 305 against South Africa here and then went on to win the tri-series, beating Pakistan in the final, and senior batter Tom Latham feels those experiences will hold them in good stead.
“Yeah, the (South Africa) team that we played potentially will be slightly different, they had a lot of guys that that weren’t in that side. They were still playing in their SAT20 back in South Africa so will be slightly different.
“But I guess from our point of view, we’ll lean back on those experiences of Lahore in playing against South Africa,” Latham had said.
“We’ll do everything that we do leading up to a game. It’s obviously going to be a reasonably quick turnaround, but it is what it is. And, we’ll be looking forward to the challenge of a semifinal,” he added referring to the hectic travel schedule.
New Zealand were in Dubai on Sunday to play against India and headed to Lahore the next morning.
Latham has been New Zealand’s best batter so far with 187 runs from three matches, but Kane Williamson’s return to form with a classy 81 against India also augurs well for the Kiwis.
On the bowling front, Matt Henry stood out and is currently the highest wicket-taker with eight scalps and has good support from Will O’Rourke (six wickets).
In skipper Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips and Mark Chapman, New Zealand boast of a good spin attack.
South Africa too are in red-hot form. The Proteas have fielded one of their most prolific squads in the tournament and have all their bases covered.
With a century under his belt, Ryan Rickelton is in ominous form, while the likes of Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram have also contributed with the bat.
South Africa’s bowling also looks impressive with the likes of Wiaan Mulder, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi in their ranks.
While on-paper, South Africa look a formidable unit and have been the team to beat in recent ICC events, their overall form over the last one year or so doesn’t inspire confidence as the Proteas have lost eight of their last 13 ODIs.
Teams (from):
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Jacob Duffy.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Corbin Bosch.
The match starts at 2:30 pm IST.
