Who: South Africa vs New Zealand
What: ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal
Where: Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Pakistan
When: Wednesday, March 5 at 1pm (09:00 GMT)
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After going through all the tangled scheduling, New Zealand return to their recent favourite venue in Pakistan when they take on South Africa in the second semifinal of cricket’s Champions Trophy in Lahore on Wednesday.
The complex scheduling of the tournament, especially at the tail end of the group stage, saw both South Africa and Australia flying out to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in the knowledge that one team would have to return to Pakistan once the semifinal matchups were confirmed after India played its last group game against New Zealand on Sunday.
The exhausting itinerary was because the Indian government refused permission for its team to travel to Pakistan due to political reasons. This left the International Cricket Council (ICC), Pakistan Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in India with no other option but to go for a hybrid model and organise all of India’s matches in Dubai, including the semifinal and March 9 final if it qualifies.
How have South Africa coped with the travelling?
After India trumped New Zealand by 44 runs, which meant Australia stayed in Dubai for Tuesday’s semifinal, South Africa returned to Pakistan. Proteas batter Heinrich Klaasen admitted the short trip to Dubai was “not ideal”.
“We knew that there was a big possibility that we might have to fly up and down,” Klaasen said. “It’s not ideal for the bodies, but at least we had some time to get out and walk around and get loose and just had some nice steak, to be fair.
“We knew it’s going to happen and it’s part of the scheduling so two teams had to do it, and unfortunately, we were one of them.”
How has New Zealand’s tournament shaped up?
New Zealand and India were the only two teams in the eight-team tournament that played all their three group matches as rain washed out two games in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, while Australia’s final group game against Afghanistan also ended without a result when heavy rain left the outfield too soggy during Australia’s run chase.
It’s now almost a month since New Zealand arrived in Pakistan and they have happy memories of Gaddafi Stadium, where they beat both South Africa and Pakistan in a tri-nation series ahead of the Champions Trophy.
New Zealand is quite familiar with the slow nature of the wickets in Lahore, which might not turn as much as the wickets in Dubai, with Glenn Phillips and Kane Williamson both notching centuries in two high-scoring games during that warm-up series.
But New Zealand will be wary of South Africa’s first-choice bowling unit as Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen didn’t play in the tri-series but can trouble batters on any pitch.
New Zealand romped to two big wins against host Pakistan at Karachi and against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi as they were not only clinical with the bat and ball, but took some splendid catches in the field. However, despite excelling in all the departments in Pakistan, their batters looked vulnerable against spinners, with nine wickets falling to slow Indian bowlers on Sunday.
How has South Africa’s Champions Trophy run shaped up?
South Africa flattened both Afghanistan and a ragged England in the group games, but the team’s crunch match against Australia was washed out in Rawalpindi and a point from that game was enough for them to top the group.
Just like New Zealand, the South African top-order batters are also in a rich vein of form. Opening batter Ryan Rickelton led the way with his maiden ODI hundred against Afghanistan in the opening game, while Klaasen returned from an elbow injury to smash a quickfire half-century against England.
The Proteas will be playing their third successive knockout game in an ICC tournament and hope to go one better than last year’s loss to India in the final of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
“The nerves are a little bit less because we have a little bit more experience in the semifinal department now,” Klaasen said. “We just had some bad luck here and there and one or two games that didn’t go our way, but we’ve been playing good cricket.
“It’s the rewards that we’re seeing now. The boys are holding a little bit more composure in the bigger moments in the game.”
How will New Zealand respond to defeat by India?
New Zealand bring “positive emotions” on their return to Lahore after good results during the Pakistan tri-series, coach Gary Stead said on Tuesday.
New Zealand beat a vastly different South Africa team by six wickets in Lahore three weeks ago, two days after beating Pakistan at the same venue in warm-ups for the ODI tournament.
“We are lucky. We’ve had some experience playing here in the tri-series before the tournament actually kicked off,” Stead told reporters on a video call.
“We’ve got some on-ground experience and I guess some positive emotions to fall back on the way we played here as well.”
Though losing to India on a spin-friendly wicket in Dubai, New Zealand were happy with how their three-pronged pace attack of Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke performed to restrict the South Asians to 249-9.
New Zealand produced 300-plus totals in both their recent wins in Lahore, and Stead said taking wickets in the early and middle overs would be key to prevent South Africa from batting big.
“We haven’t been down to the ground yet to see if we’re on a used wicket or not, but generally these wickets are pretty good batting surfaces,” he added.
“They don’t bounce too much.
“South Africa are a very, very good side and we’re going to have to play right near our best to beat them,” he added.
Getting set for semi-final cricket in Lahore 🫡 #ChampionsTrophy #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/GMcFjeJfA5
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 4, 2025
What are India and New Zealand’s records in the Champions Trophy?
Coach Jacques Kallis’s all-round brilliance brought the Proteas their first – and to date – only ICC men’s title when they won the inaugural Champions Trophy in 1998.
New Zealand, who entered the tournament ranked fourth in ODI cricket, lifted the trophy in 2000.
Team news – South Africa
It is thought that the left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who has not appeared at the Champions Trophy, might be called up in place of paceman Lungi Ngidi.
Team news – New Zealand
Kiwi coach Stead is also a selector and said in his press conference that it was likely New Zealand would stick with the same trio of seamers. They are set to be complimented with spin from their contingent of all-rounders, as they were against India and in the previous win against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.
Last five ODI matches
South Africa: L L W NR W
New Zealand: W W W W L
When and where will the final be played?
The final is scheduled to be played in Lahore on March 9.
Should India reach the final, however, the match will be switched to Dubai.
South Africa squad
Squad: Temba Bavuma (captain), Tony de Zorzi, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen (wicketkeeper), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton (wicketkeeper), Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen
New Zealand squad
Squad: Mitchell Santner (captain), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Daryl Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Kane Williamson, Will Young