KOLKATA: Hope Turned to desperation. It very quickly turned to despair on a chastening evening for South African cricket. The Proteas, the only unbeaten side remaining in the World Cup, would have been confident of advancing. Yet, thanks to a stunning assault, they were shown the door in the semifinals at Eden Gardens.
Chasing a below-par target of 170 on a great batting wicket with small boundaries, Kiwi openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen went berserk as they scored 84 in the powerplay. From thereon, they only needed 39 deliveries to complete the rout.
What added to the agony of the Proteas was the fact that they had humbled the same opponents in a group match. Unfortunately for them, it will count for nothing.
The result also meant Mitchell Santner and Co entered the final for the second time since 2021 and await the winners of the India-England clash scheduled on Thursday in Mumbai.
Earlier, Santner gave an edge to his team even before a ball was bowled as he won a very crucial toss. With the wicket expected to be good for batting and teams preferring to chase the target here as India did a few days ago, he had no hesitation in inviting South Africa to bat. With Quinton de Kock's struggle in T20s at the Eden Gardens not a secret — he had managed only 70 runs across eight matches at the venue during IPL — a lot was riding on captain Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton.
Markram has been the team's leading scorer with Rickelton only behind him in the run chart. After starting with pacer Matt Henry, who only landed on Tuesday night following a short paternity break, Kiwi skipper Mitchell Santner went to the offie Cole McConchie. And the 34-year-old from Christchurch, playing only his fourth match of the tournament, sent back De Kock and Rickelton off two consecutive deliveries to push the Proteas on the back foot inside two overs.
They could have made it three the very next over but Rachin Ravindra dropped South African captain off Lockie Ferguson at mid-wicket. Markram was on three then. The early setbacks meant South Africa followed a cautious approach reaching 48 after powerplay.
But it was not their day as Markram, who was attempting to clear the long on boundary, only found Daryl Mitchell who completed a smart diving catch. A few balls later, another dropped chance gave David Miller a reprieve but he, like Markram, could not make the most of it, perishing only four balls later giving Ravindra his second wicket.
Despite watching a couple of batters losing their wickets from the other end, Dewald Brevis kept the scoreboard ticking as South Africa ended the first half of the innings at 77/4. But in his attempt to drive one of James Neesham's deliveries through cover, he offered Santner an easy catch. South Africa had now lost half of their side with just 77 runs on the board.
Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen added 50 runs off 43 balls for the sixth wicket with the team reaching 128/5 after 17 overs, still nowhere close to par score. Neesham's next over yielded 22 runs as Brevis and Jansen both hit a four and a six each to break the shackles. Ferguson then cleaned up Brevis but Jansen slammed him for two back-to-back sixes to bring his half-century off just 27 balls. He, however, got to play only two balls of the last over, as Henry gave away only six runs and picked up two wickets, restricting the opponents to 169/8.
As expected, it didn't matter in the end as New Zealand romped home in 13th over with Allen remaining unbeaten on 100 off just 33 balls.
Brief scores: SA 169/8 in 20 ovs (Jansen 55 n.o, Brevis 34) lost to NZ 173/1 in 12.5 ovs (Allen 100 n.o, Seifert 58).
NZ 4-0 SA
The loss is South Africa's fourth in knockouts of an ICC tournament. Here are the matches they have lost against the Kiwis so far...
2011 ODI World Cup quarterfinal (Mirpur): New Zealand won by 49 runs
2015 ODI World Cup semifinal (Auckland): New Zealand won by 4 wickets
2025 ICC Champions Trophy semifinal (Lahore): New Zealand won by 50 runs
2026 T20 World Cup semifinal (Kolkata): New Zealand won by 9 wickets
