South Africa vs New Zealand Live Score, T20 World Cup Semi Final: Markram’s firepower vs Santner’s control – Who will win the captaincy battle?
Henry’s availability could prove decisive, given his effectiveness with the new ball.
He departed after New Zealand’s final Super Eight match against England on February 27 to return home for the birth of his child.
Henry has claimed seven wickets in seven matches so far, averaging 21.71, with best figures of 2/3 and an economy rate of 7.41.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Santner confirmed the seamer would undergo a fitness check upon arrival.
“Matt is currently in the air, he’s landing tonight, so I guess we will see how he pulls up – it is obviously quite far away from New Zealand here. But he will obviously have a little run around in the morning, see if he is ready to go, so yeah, now hopefully he is good to go,” said the skipper.
New Zealand’s route to the semifinals was far from straightforward. A defeat to England — sparked by a counter-attacking partnership between Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed in a chase of 160 — left them reliant on other results. Pakistan needed either a 64-run win or to chase down Sri Lanka’s target within 13.1 overs to surpass New Zealand on net run rate. However, half-centuries from Pavan Rathnayake and skipper Dasun Shanaka narrowed the margin to five runs, ensuring the Black Caps progressed to the last four.
Santner admitted that watching the decisive fixture was a tense experience.
“I had a few other boys in my room, and I had to leave because it was pretty tough. But yeah, I mean, Pakistan Also played pretty good cricket throughout this competition same with Sri Lanka – it is very fine margins at the end of the day separating a lot of teams especially as we have seen throughout the tournament, there have been potential upsets throughout the whole comp so I think at every stage the result is you just want to get through to the next stage whether it is the first stage obviously Super 8 and now it is semi-finals – it is one game and you can potentially move on. So again, it is we are here now, which is ideal, but again, we know we have got a challenge tomorrow against a very good team,” he added.
On the nature of pitches in India, Santner observed:
“Yeah, they are not spinning as much as they were back then, unfortunately. But yeah, it has been a great journey. We always enjoy playing cricket in India. Obviously, the fans are one of the reasons why you play the game. They come out in truckloads to watch in India, and there will be no doubt tomorrow night. So yeah, boys are excited for that. Some guys’ first World Cups, first semi-finals in front of a lot of people, so it is exciting.”
New Zealand, still seeking their maiden World Cup title across formats, are aware of South Africa’s heartbreak in the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados, where they narrowly failed in a chase of 177. Santner praised the Proteas’ consistency, noting they are the only unbeaten side in the semifinals.
“We have been playing some decent cricket as well. So I think, yeah, I guess it is whoever turns up on the day tomorrow, whoever assesses conditions the best they can. We know South Africa is going to be a threat, as they have shown, and we are just going to go out there and try to put some pressure on them at different stages of the game, and they are going to do the same for us. I guess you are not quite there, especially not quite a final, but it is a massive game, and you can do those things well for a long period of time and see what happens. But South Africa is a very well-balanced side as we have seen throughout this tournament,” he added.
Reflecting on their seven-wicket group-stage defeat to South Africa at the same venue, Santner acknowledged that the Proteas’ Powerplay batting while chasing 176 had tilted that contest. He also admitted New Zealand are yet to produce a complete performance in the tournament.
“I guess that is a good thing for us can I guess if we can put it all together put us in a pretty good position, but yeah, I think there is no real hiding or secrets about what is after you are going to bring and them for us, we know they are going to probably roll out the same team and a very good team at that? And then I guess for us, they probably know what we are going to do as well,” Santner said.
“So again, it is all up to, I guess, the surface and adapting as quickly as we can. But we know if you can get into that top order, but their middle order packs a lot of power as well, so you might not be trying to bowl them, it might be trying to get an out of overs and trying to it might be 180 is a good score instead of 220. But I guess we will wait and see. But yeah, I think they have kind of all bases covered, and that is why they are undefeated in this tournament,” he concluded.
