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5th over: New Zealand 29-0 (Young 17, Ravindra 11) Brilliant fielding at square leg from a diving van der Dussen saves three runs off another crunching pull shot from Ravindra. But there’s no stopping Young’s pull that finds the big gap behind square on the leg side. The South Africans haven’t found the length yet. Too short and it’s easy pickings on this good deck.
4th over: New Zealand 21-0 (Young 10, Ravindra 10) Boundaries to bookend this Ngidi over. First Young steered another loose ball through backward point off the front foot. Then Ravindra showed his class with a lovely flick off the pads – all balance and timing – to take four through midwicket. New Zealand’s openers look in good touch.
3rd over: New Zealand 12-0 (Young 5, Ravindra 6) The first boundary comes off a mighty pull from Ravindra, who rode the bounce of Jansen to smoke it through square leg. That was a top shot! He collected two via a misfield in the covers, though that was crunched as well so Miller perhaps deserves some slack for taking the sting out of it.
2nd over: New Zealand 6-0 (Young 5, Ravindra 0) Ngidi from the other end. Not Rabada. The burly bowler is hitting a shortish length hard and Young flashes at some width, catching it with a thick outside edge that flies over Jansen at first slip for four. Another shortish, wideish one invites the cut but Young can’t get enough on it ti pierce the infield.
1st over: New Zealand 2-0 (Young 1, Ravindra 0) Young gets an inside edge and a single down to fine leg off the first ball. Jansen then lands a great bouncer that has Ravindra ducking. A wide down the leg side adds one to the score but that’s a good start from the South African beanpole.
One of my favourite writers, Andrew Fidel Fernando of Cricinfo fame, has this to say on X:
I hope, today, NZ and South Africa put on a semi final for the ages in Lahore. I hope it is a match the city will revel in. The cricket world is increasingly unkind, held to ransom by the lowest impulses of South Asian geopolitics, and now a near-slavish worship of commerce.
Nuff said.
Slight delay (aaaargh!!!). A problem with the sightscreen. Some of the black sheet covering the white grandstand has blown sideways.
A slip and a leg slip in place.
OK, furniture sorted, away we go!
Anthems are done. A very sparse crowd in attendance. Hopefully it’ll fill up but I won’t hold my breath.
New Zealand’s openers are sauntering to the wicket, shadow batting and stretching as they do so.
The two-metre tall Marco Jansen will get us underway with the ball.
Deck looks good. Expect runs.
From a 35-year-old Saffa, to a 25-year-old Kiwi.
It’s now Rachin Ravindra’s turn to get a glowing segment on Sky.
He calls ODI cricket the “pinnacle”. Too right. I’m a big fan.
The lad’s a gun! He’s got four tons and four 50s from 31 games in this format. Getting him early will be key for the South Africans.
Our first correspondence is from a Kiwi, Alistair Connor:
Hi Daniel
As a Kiwi I breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when India eliminated Australia, because … there is a profound cultural problem there. Hope it goes away one day, and I will be able to look forward to an Aus/NZ final.
I have no such fear of South Africa, not out of disrespect for a very talented team. But they have their own demons.
David Miller is getting a big segment on Sky’s coverage.
One of the greatest South African cricketers. Ever. I’ll die on that hill.
In terms of cricket tragedies, Miller never playing a Test match is right up there.
Teams
New Zealand are unchanged from the team that lost to India.
NZ: Ravindra, Young, Williamson, Mitchell, Latham (wk), Phillips, Bracewell, Santner (c), Henrym Jamieson, O’Rourke.
Just one change for the Saffas as the skipper returns to open the batting in place of Tristan Stubbs.
SA: Bavuma (c), Rickelton, van der Dussen, Markram, Klaasen, Miller, Muder, Jansen, Maharaj, Rabada, Ngidi.
New Zealand win the toss and bat first
It didn’t work for Australia yesterday, but we’re on a different deck, at a different ground, in a different country.
Mitch Santner says, “It looks like a good wicket, there shouldn’t be dew. It’s a privilege to captain the country, we know what to expect in these conditions.
SA’s captain, the fit again Temba Bavuma, says, “We weren’t too concerned. We would’ve preferred to bat. But we’ll have to start well.”
Some big news this morning!
One of the greats, Steve Smith as retired from ODI cricket.
He’s doing this to prolong his Test career.
He’s calling time at 170 ODI matches where he plundered 5,800 runs at an average of 43.28.
Preamble
So, who will meet India in the Champions Trophy final on Sunday?
The South African Proteas, unbeaten so far and possessing a formidable bowling arsenal and a batting unit in form? Or the New Zealand Black Caps, forever punching above their weight with a team that is more than the sum of its parts?
On paper, you’d think the Saffas should have this wrapped up, but this is an ICC knockout game, and we all know how those tend to go for the men in green and gold.
South Africa enjoy a 42-26 head-to-head record against New Zealand but the one that sticks in my memory is the 2015 World Cup semi-final, where Grant Elliott clobbered Dale Steyn for six in the last over to secure a remarkable victory. Oh, what about the quarterfinal in Mirpur when the Proteas (not for the first, or last time) managed to bottle a run chase from a winning position.
The Proteas will be keen to shift the narrative today.
Will do they do? We’ll find out together.
Do write in if you’ve got some thoughts.
I’ll be back later with the toss and team news.
First ball at 9am GMT.
