LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — After going through all the tangled scheduling, New Zealand returns to its recent favorite venue in Pakistan when it takes on South Africa in the second semifinal of the 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 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 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 organize all of India's matches in Dubai, including the semifinal and March 9 final if it qualifies.
India trumped New Zealand by 44 runs, which meant Australia stayed in Dubai for the Tuesday’s semifinal against India. South Africa returned to Pakistan with Heinrich Klaasen admitting 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.”
New Zealand and India were the only two teams in the eight-team tournament which played all their three group matches as rain washed out two games in Rawalpindi, 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.
Familiar surrounds
It’s now almost a month since New Zealand arrived in Pakistan and they have happy memories of Gaddafi Stadium where it 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 exceling in all the departments in Pakistan, their batters looked vulnerable against spinners with nine wickets falling to slow Indian bowlers on Sunday.
Proteas in form
South Africa flattened both Afghanistan and a ragged England in the group games, but its 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 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.”
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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
The Associated Press
