Dubai: Senior batter Tom Latham said New Zealand will take confidence from their recent win over South Africa in the tri-series when they face the same opponents in the semifinal of the Champions Trophy in Lahore on Wednesday.
New Zealand lost to India by 44 runs in their final Group A match here on Sunday but Latham said it would have no bearing on the semifinal.
Recently, New Zealand successfully chased 305 against South Africa in Lahore and then went on to win the tri-series, beating Pakistan in the final, and Latham feels those experiences will hold them in good stead on Wednesday.
“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 said after the loss to India.
“So yeah, we’ll look to prep as best we can. 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.”
Latham said what matters for the Kiwis is their attitude towards the game and preparation.
“…as we go into every game, we prepare as best we can. Individuals have slightly different preparation. And, yeah, we obviously fielded fantastically well today (Sunday), which was fantastic. And I think that’s something we like to do.
“Especially from a fielding point of view is to I guess have a presence in the field and keep taking every I guess attacking option that we can and I think we’ve seen throughout the tournament some of the catches that the guys have been taking. For us we believe that I guess from a fielding point of view, it’s an attitude thing,” he said.
“Our attitude is always the same. We turn up trying to play our brand of cricket as best we can. And if we stick to that, then hopefully that will give us a good chance at the back end of the game.”
Latham added that they are in no mood to take the Proteas lightly.
New Zealand had sealed their semifinal spot ahead of Sunday’s loss to India in Dubai. The Kiwis also had prior knowledge that they would have to return to Pakistan for their last four game.
“That’s something that’s out of our control. We don’t decide the schedule, for us it is about turning up at each game regardless of where it is and trying to play our best brand of cricket as best we can,” Latham said.
“So, whether it be here, whether it be in Pakistan, our focus will obviously be on South Africa. We’re fortunate enough we had a tri-series in Pakistan and against South Africa.
“So, we’ve got a chance to look back on those experiences and give it our best in a semifinal, which is pretty cool.”
Latham said though the surfaces in Pakistan were on the slower side, they have not spun as much as the pitches in Dubai.
“I think if you look at the surfaces that we’ve played in Pakistan, they’ve obviously been on the slower side, potentially haven’t spun as much as we’ve seen here in Dubai, but things or conditions can change a little bit from the daytime to the nighttime,” he said.
“…we’ve seen throughout the games in Pakistan that towards the back end of the game – a little bit of juice settles in and sometimes can be a little bit easier. A little bit nicer to bat on potentially.”
India will play Australia in the first semifinal here on Tuesday.
