Great image: Run Fest expects sa, nz
Here we are again. South Africa and New Zealand, the two best sides that have ever won a World Cup, are in a knocked match. Both have had their hands this Trophy all the way back when called Knockout of ICC and possibly meant something more in terms of its importance in the global game. So do not be wrong: winning this will not eliminate the desire of the big one, but it will help mark things until 2027, when South Africa co-elbitrione the event with neighbors Zimbabwe and Namibia.
In front of each other, instead of India or Australia, it seems to give both a better opportunity to progress to the final. And doing it in Pakistan, although both teams traveled from Dubai at different times on Monday, it probably suits them more. The conditions are good for the execution score and both have alignments capable of publishing large scores, which suggests that fans will be at an execution festival. Their attacks are combined similarly to the point where both were beaten by absences driven by injuries among rapids. Some of the most interesting narratives could be around which of the high men, Marco Jansen and Kyle Jamieson, can extract more with their height or which of the attacker bowling players, Kagiso Rabada or Matt Henry, has the greatest success.
A difference could arise in Spin’s resources, where South Africa has chosen to operate with a single specialist in Keshav Maharaj, but New Zealand has both Captain Mitchell Santner and the offsperner Michael Bracewell in his best XI. Maharaj had previously indicated that he sees a role of spinning as more defensive in this event, so his economy rates are the numbers to see here.
Then, particularly for South Africa, the results seemed seismic. Now, the CPI events occur annually and the teams are dusting and starting again with a much larger frequency. Does that mean that it matters less if you lose in a crucial stage or even if you win? Ask one of these two, who have spent the best part of the last three decades trying to win an important trophy and it is likely to say no. Only one of them will have the opportunity to do it this time.
Form guide
South Africa: Wwllll (the last five completed games, the most recent first)
New Zealand: Lwwww
In the Care Center: David Miller and Kane Williamson
Like many of the most experienced players in this event, at 34, Williamson may have no other chance to win an ODI trophy and want to make the most of this.
Team news
South Africa (possible): 1 Temba Bavuma (Capt), 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Rassie Van Der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (WK), 6 David Miller, 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi
The only question in New Zealand will be which of Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway or Daryl Mitchell will be left out. Conway sat in the Indian game for Mitchell, who played against Pakistan but not Bangladesh. Young and Ravindra have centuries of their names in this competition, which suggests that the decision is between Mitchell and Conway, which has dozens of 30 and 10 of their departures in the tournament.
New Zealand: 1 Will Young, 2 Rachin Ravindra/Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 Tom Latham (WK), 6 Glenn Phillips, 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (Capt), 9 Matt Henry, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Will O’Rourke
Tone and conditions
In five hate this year, the average score of the first entries is 316.5 and the results have been shared first between the team’s batting and the persecution team. It is expected to be another Belter for batters and a hard output for bowling players. While Heinrich Klaasen mentioned some drizzle upon the arrival of South Africa in the city on Monday, the prognosis is mild and clear for the semifinal.
Statistics and trivia
- South Africa and New Zealand have not played a bilateral cricket of the white ball since 2017, but they played with each other in the 2019 and 2023 World Cups and won a game piece A and the Tri-Nation series of Pakistan, in a match that New Zealand won. In the CPI tournaments, they have gathered 11 times, and New Zealand has won seven of those games.
- South Africa is the only country that has described for the knockouts of all the last seven CPI events: in male, female and children’s tournaments. That includes the semifinal of the Men’s World Cup in 2023, the 2024 male T20 World Cup final, the 2025 world test championship, the 2024 U-19 World Cup semifinal, the 2024 World Cup final of 2024 and the Final of 2025 Women Sub-19.
Quotes
“Programming is a problem in general, but when you have time to rest and recover, you should do it. One day, the Crick can be quite exhausting in the body, and for us, it could be assured that bowling players are ready for tomorrow. I don’t think they are doing a lot today in training.”New Zealand traveled back to Pakistan from early Dubai on Monday morning and will use Tuesday to recover instead of training largely according to the captain Mitchell Santner.
Fredid Mounda is the spancricinfo correspondent for South Africa and the Women’s cricket
