🏏Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #32: New Zealand vs South Africa 🏏

🏏Cricket World Cup 2023: Match #32: New Zealand vs South Africa at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on 1/11/2023 at 2:00 PM IST 🏏

Two outstanding teams, one grand spectacle in store in Pune

Both teams are in the top three at this stage, and the winners of this game will feel very secure about their future

It started with a World Cup quarter-final that turned into a proper scrap in Mirpur in 2011. It marked the arrival of a cricket rivalry that isn't talked about a lot, but often gives us games that ain't good for the heart - just like the rugby World Cup final from a few nights ago.

Auckland 2015 and Birmingham 2019, the two most recent men's ODI World Cup fixtures since the rivalry sprung to life, were both thrillers of different kinds. One a semi-final with everything on the line, and the other a league fixture, like Wednesday's will be. This one will dictate how the top half of the points table shapes up heading into the last bit of the league stage.

All told, for three straight men's World Cups in a row, the New Zealand games have been must-wins for South Africa; in fact, South Africa have lost five World Cup games in a row to New Zealand. In Pune on Wednesday, the stakes aren't as high, given both teams are still pretty comfortably placed for the semi-finals, but it's one both sides will want to win for momentum's sake at the very least.

New Zealand endured back-to-back losses to India and Australia as their smooth sail of a campaign - they had started with four wins on the trot - hit a rough patch amid a growing list of niggles. South Africa have been gung-ho, proving their only loss - to Netherlands - was an aberration, their batting depth looking increasingly menacing and bowling effective enough, as they were expected to be.

Their one-wicket win over Pakistan in Chennai the other night saved them from that dreaded word that had begun doing the rounds even as their lower order collapsed, before Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi saw them home. A favourable result in Pune will further underpin their status as one of the dominant teams at this World Cup. That they aren't great chasers, though, is a suggestion they haven't been able to dispel.

Results and all that aside, the match promises an explosive cocktail of firepower with the bat, and thrill with the ball. There's aesthetics in the form of Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Rassie van der Dussen, big-hitting from Henrich Klaasen, David Miller and Glenn Phillips, and the genius of Quinton de Kock to boot.

With the ball, there's pace royalty in the form of Kagiso Rabada, the swing of Trent Boult, the hustle of Gerald Coetzee, and the bounce of Marco Jansen - each of them brings a unique flavour that makes fast bowling thrilling. If all of them play, it'll truly mark a spectacle.

Now for a good pitch and great weather to make it all come together.

Tag Credit: Sutapasima

New Zealand vs South Africa pitch report

The pitch in Pune has been slightly skiddy. Also, the dew factor has played a role in the matches hosted by the MCA Stadium. The captain winning the toss may elect to field in today's match at this venue.

New Zealand vs South Africa weather forecast

The sky will be mostly sunny and clear, with periodic clouds during the match hours in Pune. Rain isn't expected to play any role in this game, and the temperature will loom around 28° C.

Pitch and conditions

Pune is unusually hot and dry for this time of the year, but the surfaces have been good for batting, with even bounce and excellent carry. In the two games so far, dew hasn't had too big an effect, but it should be humid. The toss might not be too big a factor if the dew stays away.

Don't forget to submit your predictions for Match 32 today.

Toss prediction before 1:30 PM IST and rest of the predictions before 2:00 PM IST.

All the very best to everyone!

Tag Credit: Sutapasima

Rugby is a bigger deal than cricket in New Zealand and South Africa. Small wonder: the All Blacks or the Springboks have won seven of the 10 men's World Cups yet played, even though the Boks weren't at the first two because of apartheid.

So there will be no avoiding in Pune on Wednesday the echoes of this year's final between rugby's giants, which was played in Paris in the early hours of Sunday morning (IST). The South Africans claimed a record fourth triumph, winning a thunderous, controversy-strewn classic by a single point.

Men's World Cup matches involving the countries' cricket teams have have been spiced with drama - the 2011 quarterfinal and 2015 semifinal, for instance - but this rivalry isn't as keen as it is in rugby. Maybe that's because New Zealand have beaten South Africa six times in eight meetings. It isn't much of a rivalry if one side wins significantly more often.

But the South Africans will believe they are capable of pulling one back this time. They are among the biggest batting teams at the tournament, and in Chennai on Friday they offered evidence that they have found a way to play under pressure by hanging tough to beat Pakistan by one wicket in the first close match of this World Cup.

The complication, for South Africa, is that the New Zealanders are themselves not averse to piling on the runs. And, of course, Friday's match was not a knockout game - which have tended to prompt meltdowns in the team now led by Temba Bavuma.

The complication, for New Zealand, is that Lockie Ferguson, Kane Williamson and Mark Chapman are carrying significant injuries. Those are problems in three important areas that have made them a competitive team.

The other complication is that, with the semifinal line-up solidifying with each passing match, this game is more about who goes where in the final four than anything else. Both teams will be reasonably confident of making the semis, but will they play Australia or India there? Winning, and losing, on Wednesday will go some way towards answering that question.

New Zealand's other remaining opponents in the league stage are Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They should have the measure of both. But South Africa will be at Eden Gardens on Sunday for a clash with unbeaten India. They won't want to be thinking about what went wrong in Pune as they take the flight to Kolkata.

Cricket matches between New Zealand and South Africa are often distilled to a tussle that pits the former's famous flintiness against the latter's supposedly superior strength. That narrative will again be afoot in this match, but so will something else.

When you grow up in the shadow of rugby and play cricket instead, and you know you have picked the sport that doesn't grab your compatriots' attention nearly as much as the other, you also know you need to take every chance to show them why you have made the right choice. This, for all involved, is one such chance.

In the spotlight - Temba Bavuma and Rachin Ravindra

In a top order that has mostly been in top gear, Temba Bavuma seems some sort of a weak link at the moment for South Africa. He has had starts in three of his four innings, but hasn't been able to top 35. As such, Bavuma is an accumulator, but has seemed anxious at different times to break out of that mould. It hasn't worked yet. While there is no threat to his captaincy, he'll want a big score to feel a bit more at ease.

Will he? Won't he? Kane Williamson has walked around with more questions on his fitness and participation during this campaign than he has at any other point in his career. Williamson is not fit yet, but in his absence, Rachin Ravindra has made the No. 3 spot his own. Williamson's presence as part of the leadership group has lent a lot of calm and tactical nous, but he would be itching to return and make an impact. As for Ravindra, he is already making plenty of it.

Stats and trivia

• Conway has been dismissed twice in six games by left-arm spin at this World Cup. South Africa have Maharaj in the mix. In all, Conway has hit 17 runs off the 21 balls from bowlers of this variety. It's only a small sample size but worth looking out for nonetheless, especially given that he loves the sweep shot, and Pune has relatively bigger squares.
• Ravindra's tally of 406 runs is already the most by a New Zealander in his maiden World Cup. The standout aspect has been his game against spin - he has scored 210 against them at a strike rate of 109. His eight sixes are the most against spinners in the tournament so far.
• South Africa's seven 300-plus totals in a row batting first in ODIs - including four this World Cup - is the longest streak in the game. They have hit the most sixes and fours, and have the most hundreds (six) in the tournament.
• South Africa's pace pack has taken 44 wickets at an average and a strike rate of 23.3 and 23.5, respectively. Their wickets tally and their bowling strike rate are the best for a team in this World Cup.

Teams:

New Zealand

Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the match. "Williamson has batted in the nets the last two days but has been ruled out of a return to match action tomorrow," Black Caps informed on match eve. "He will be assessed again ahead of the side's next match against Pakistan."

The Kiwis are still awaiting news on Lockie Ferguson's Achilles and Mark Chapman's calf. Tom Latham was particularly non-committal about them at his press conference on Tuesday.

Without certainty on those players it's difficult to see which way New Zealand will lean to pick their XI. That said, all three trained on Tuesday.

Tactics & strategy

New Zealand have made four of the top 20 totals in the tournament, and Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway have scored centuries. So we can bank on them being competitive with the bat. Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry are their two most successful bowlers and are among the top 10 wicket-takers, and then there's Glenn Phillips, whose off-spin became less part-time and more frontline every time he gives it a whirl.

Probable XI: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (capt), Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson

South Africa

Kagiso Rabada missed the match against Pakistan in Chennai on Friday because of lower back spasms, but should be good to go on Wednesday. South Africa's only other question is whether to pick Tabraiz Shamsi as a second spinner rather than Gerald Coetzee, their fast bowling enforcer.

Tactics & strategy

Like their opponents, South Africa own four of the 20 biggest totals at this World Cup. Quinton de Kock has scored half of their six hundreds, and Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Rassie van der Dussen the others. Runs are not the issue, and they showed against Pakistan that they can chase. Also like the Kiwis, the Saffers have two of the leading 10 wicket-takers in Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee. But they have been liable to leak a few too many runs.

Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Lungi Ngidi

What they said:

"There were two special sporting events going on, and one's just finished. But we feel the support we have back home. We certainly understand the country is right behind us and hopefully we can make them proud." - Tom Latham says his team can feel the love despite the nation's obsession with the rugby World Cup.

"The result [against Pakistan] could have been different, and then we'd be having a different conversation. But the important and heartening thing was to see how some of the guys played under pressure, and that we managed to find a way to get over the line. If we do it again and again, we'll start to accept that we're getting better at winning key moments in pressure games." - Rob Walter on South Africa's relationship with tight contests.

Barely 2-3 days after the Rugby World Cup final, they meet again!

Let's see whether SA reverse their losing streak v NZ (just like they managed v PAK)

Thank you, Raji, for the thread and for tagging me.

This match seems to be an interesting one, not looking like a one-sided match. Competition will be tough for the teams.