SABC Sport 2 hours ago News 0 Views
New Zealand captain Mitch Santner has admitted the Proteas are a massive threat to their hopes of reaching the ICC T20 World Cup final, but remains optimistic ahead of Wednesday’s semifinal.
The two teams will meet in the first semifinal at Eden Gardens in Kolkota at 15:30 (SA time), before India and England meet to decide Sunday’s final matchup.
Santner, whose side lost to South Africa in the early group stage of the tournament, is wary of the Proteas’ who have a white-ball title, but says they too are due a World Cup breakthrough.
“Yeah, I guess it’s probably two teams that have been in and around it for a long time, I guess. We know the heartbreak of South Africa two years ago [in the final against India],” said Santner.
“I think, again, they’re playing some very good cricket and its shown throughout this tournament, I guess – they’re the only unbeaten team.
“And we’ve been playing some decent cricket as well, so yeah, I guess it’s whoever turns up on the day tomorrow, whoever assesses conditions the best they can.
“We know South Africa are going to be a threat, as they’ve shown. We’re just going to go out there and try to put some pressure on them at different stages of the game, and they’re going to do the same for us.
“I guess you’re not quite there [to win it], especially not quite a final, but it’s a massive game and if you can do those things well for a long period of time, we’ll see what happens.
“But South Africa are a very well-balanced side as we’ve seen throughout this tournament.”
Asked what they learnt from the group stage defeat to the South Africans, the Kiwis skipper particularly highlighted the deep batting line-up of coach Shukri Conrad’s charges and the need to restrict them to a moderate total.
“I guess the Ahmedabad surface was a good one and South Africa have a lot of power. I think the power play for us with the ball was where they really got away to a flyer,” he noted.
“But if you can get into that top order, their middle order packs a lot of power as well so it might not be trying to bowl them out, it might just be trying to get them out of overs and trying to keep it to 180 instead of 220.
“But I guess we’ll wait and see. I think they have kind of all bases covered and that’s why they’re undefeated in this tournament.”
www.sabcnews.com, https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/mitch-santner-wary-of-proteas-balance-in-world-cup-semifinal/
Check Also
Steenhuisen insists on tight foot-and-mouth vaccine control
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen says access to foot-and-mouth disease vaccines must remain tightly controlled, as …
