Champions Trophy semis: Proteas, Kiwis look to shrug off travel fatigue

The buzz in the final week of the ICC Champions Trophy is how the skewed schedule has proved to be hectic — if not unreasonable — for the two teams in the second semi-final on Wednesday: New Zealand and South Africa.

Take New Zealand first. After being based in Pakistan where they played two of their league games, Mitchell Santner’s men flew to Dubai on a three-hour flight to take on India last Sunday. Now, they are back again in Lahore for a key match on the morrow.

The South Africans, on the other hand, arrived in Dubai along with Australia to be on stand-by as both teams had to wait for the outcome of the India-NZ game, which determined the semis match-ups and venues. After finishing as toppers in Group B, the Proteas had to fly back to Lahore again and ready themselves for the semis at short notice.

The hybrid format of the tournament, along with India’s insistence on not playing in Pakistan, left the ICC with no choice. However, the Kiwis put on their game face as senior pro Tom Latham said at the media conference in Dubai:  ‘’That’s something that’s out of our control. We don’t decide the schedule, for us it is about turning up at each game regardless of where it is and trying to play our best brand of cricket as best we can.

‘’So whether it be here, whether it be in Pakistan, our focus will obviously be on South Africa. We’re fortunate enough we had a tri-series in Pakistan and against South Africa. So, we’ve got a chance to look back on those experiences and give it our best in a semi-final, which is pretty cool.’’

One cricketing advantage for the two teams is that both New Zealand and South Africa had been camping in Pakistan since February to play a tri-series with the hosts. The Kiwis won the trophy but more importantly, both teams have had a taste of the conditions in which either of them may have to play a maximum of two more games.

While history counts for little, both teams have won this trophy once before albeit in its older avatar — the Proteas won it 1998 in what has been their only major ICC trophy till date, while New Zealand pulled off a surprise in 2000. There may be little to choose between the two teams, but an interesting pattern in South Africa’s performance graph in the recent ICC knockout tournaments augurs well for them. 

In the 2023 ICC World Cup, they rode high on their batting prowess to progress to the semi-finals, where eventual champions Australia had to struggle to put it across South Africa on a slow Eden Gardens surface. Last year, they again looked like serious title contenders in the final against India, which was neck-and-neck until the later had the last laugh by seven runs.

The experience and quality of the two South African spinners Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi may hold the key against New Zealand, but the latter boasts some terrific players of spin like Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra.

It could well be a battle of equals at the Gaddafi tomorrow!

Catch the Match

Champions Trophy second semi-final, 5 March

South Africa vs New Zealand

Venue: Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

Time: 2.30 pm (IST)