LIVE: South Africa in trouble against New Zealand

South Africa will look to continue their perfect run as they take on New Zealand in the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in Kolkata on Wednesday.

2024 finalists South Africa have a perfect seven out of seven record this time, and have won 15 of their last 16 matches at the tournament. New Zealand have also completed in a T20 World final once before this, in 2021 when they lost to Australia in the summit clash.

The Proteas scored a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in their group stage clash when the two sides met in Ahmedabad.

South Africa v New Zealand

Scorecard

After electing to field first, New Zealand landed early blows. The Black Caps brought in off-spinner Cole McConchie to test the South African top order and the gamble paid off immediately as he dismissed Quinton De Kock and Ryan Rickelton to peg South Africa back to 12/2.

Aiden Markram and Dewald Brevis have helped South Africa on the road to recovery. They took Jimmy Neesham for 17 runs in the fifth over and have posted 48/2 in powerplay.

The partnership was cut short at 43 as a superb diving catch by Daryl Mitchell ended Markram's stay at the wicket. Though David Miller was dropped by Glenn Phillips early on, the southpaw ended up handing another skier to Mitchell. After 10 overs, South Africa are in trouble at 77/4.

South Africa: Aiden Markram (c), Quinton de Kock, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi

New Zealand: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), James Neesham, Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson