Cricket World Cup 2023: South Africa v New Zealand – Preview

The Cricket World Cup is reaching the final stages of the pool table with nations still in chase of a place in the semi-finals. With South Africa 1 win away to secure a place in the last four will battle New Zealand in promising to be a titanic battle for the powerful nations.

South Africa

Following a nail-biting 1 wicket win in the last match against Pakistan, South Africa will face yet another difficult test when go head to head with New Zealand on Wednesday 1 November. A victory for the Proteas will surely guarantee them a ticket to the semi-finals. It won’t be easy though facing a side that have lost two matches in a row and is desperate to get back into the winning ways. Against Pakistan, Proteas managed to hold their breath to successfully chase a 270 scoreline with Aiden Markram raking in 92 runs to play a vital role in the chase.

At times, Proteas has been labeled as the chockers in the big tournaments, but they won many fans’ hearts with how calmly they managed to go over the line. In this tournament, Proteas have been so good in terms of scoring runs and it is no wonder Quinton De Kock lead the chart with 431 runs scored so far. Plus Markram is occupying the fifth position with 356 runs so far. But it is yet to be seen if Proteas batsmen will survive the heat of Mitchell Santner, who has been in fine form with the ball. The 31-year-old Santner has collected 14 wickets and would be crucial for his side in this encounter.

If Proteas batsmen managed to come out on top against Santner, then would indicate that their nation stands to go far in the tournament. What has stood up inside Proteas camp is the way they have struck the balance with both bat and the ball. They have an excellent team that has shown unity and have grown to be dangerous as the tournament progresses. To win against them would require a very strong performance from the opponents.

New Zealand

Despite starting the tournament brightly with four wins in a row, New Zealand has suffered back-to-back losses (India and Australia) to shape their standing in another direction. As the tournament reaches the final stages, Kiwis would want to turn things around in order to book a semi-final berth. One would ask what went wrong for them in the past two matches. Were they outclassed by better opponents? Or were they poor in terms of batting? Or the combination of the two. It is so difficult to point out, but they have to dust themselves now.

Against Australia, chasing 388 was a huge ask but throughout the encounter, they looked like would manage to go through the line. In the end, they came short of 5 runs in their fight. That character and determination Kiwis shown in the match must be a huge plus if they want to go far in the tournament. Despite losing a match they have indicated that they have all the qualities to match any side in the world at the moment. For them, this tournament means a lot for many reasons. Losing the final twice in the past two tournaments would frustrate anyone and would want to be the champions this time around.

To edge close in that dream, they have to defeat the strong sides in the tournament and so far, have failed to do that. In their squad, they have impressive Rachic Ravindra, who has been incredible with the bat scoring 406 runs and would be a huge test for South African bowlers. But Ravindra would know better that Proteas are not short of an excellent bowling department with Marco Jansen leading the attack with 13 wickets. That shall provide a much-anticipated battle in waiting.

Head To Head

New Zealand has faced South Africa 71 times in the ODI matches with, 25 victories on their side. Meanwhile, Proteas has 41 wins, and 5 matches produced no result. In the World Cup, the last two matches were won by New Zealand