New Zealand vs South Africa Women T20 World Cup Predictions - Proteas to lift game to take White Ferns down in World Cup warm-up

Simon Lewis

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Last updated: 08 Jun 2026

Simon Lewis 08 Jun 2026

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New Zealand Women have won four of their last five ODIs.
The Proteas Women have suffered three defeats in their last five matches.
New Zealand have the better form but the Proteas are rated higher in the odds to take the Cup.

Expired

Laura Wolvaardt was the leading run-scorer in the last two T20 World Cups (Getty Images).

New Zealand vs South Africa Women Predictions

New Zealand beat South Africa in the 2024 T20 World Cup final but the Proteas were the strong favourites and I’m backing them to kick their game up a gear in time for their first match in the tournament.

New Zealand vs South Africa Predictions
Head-to-Head
New Zealand Form
South Africa Form
Team news

New Zealand’s Melie Kerr hit 7 boundaries in her 28-ball 51* against Bangladesh.
New Zealand’s Suzie Bates scored 45 off 39 balls against Bangladesh.
New Zealand’s Nensi Patel took 4/18 against Bangladesh.
New Zealand have beaten South Africa in 5 of their last 6 T20 clashes.
South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt hit 3 sixes in her 37-ball 65 against Ireland.
South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp took 4/24 against Ireland.
South Africa’s Nonkululeko Mlaba took 2/25 against Ireland.

Head-to-Head

New Zealand have won five and lost one of their last six T20 matches against South Africa, including winning the last World Cup final against the Proteas.

New Zealand Form

New Zealand picked up a 68-run win over Bangladesh in their first warm-up match ahead of the tournament.

Melie Kerr has scores of 179*, 55 and 51* in her last nine innings. New Zealand’s Suzie Bates scored 45 off 39 balls against Bangladesh. Georgia Plimmer has five scores between 19 and 28 in her last nine innings but has yet to push on to a bigger score.

Suzie Bates has been struggling for form but scored a solid 45 off 39 balls against Bangladesh and has picked up just four wickets in her last six matches. New Zealand’s Nensi Patel took 4/18 against Bangladesh on the back of figures of 2/14, 2/25 and 1/7 in her last six matches.

South Africa Form

In a busy warm-up schedule the Proteas beat Australia by seven runs only to lose to them by 85 runs three days later. They followed that up with a 16-run win over Ireland in their last match.

South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt hit 3 sixes in her 37-ball 65 against Ireland. South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp took 4/24 three days ago against Ireland and a week earlier scored 49 against Australia.

Nonkululeko Mlaba has been enjoying a rich run of form with the ball, taking 2/15, 2/20 and 2/25 in her last four matches. Tumi Sekhukhune has figures of 2/23 and 2/18 in her last three matches.

Team news

Marizanne Kapp admitted after the win over Ireland that the Proteas were still finding their feet but that they were positive ahead of their clash with New Zealand.

“It probably wasn’t our best game of cricket. We started well with the bat and then just kind of lost our way there, but it was a good outing as a whole, especially for the bowlers just to get a bowl. The weather has been terrible over the last week and we feel a bit underprepared, so today was very much needed for us,” said Kapp in her post-match interview.

“It’s just about working on the things that you as an individual want to work on, but in doing that also playing positive cricket,” added Kapp.

New Zealand squad: Melie Kerr (c), Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Flora Devonshire, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Nensi Patel, Georgia Plimmer, Izzy Sharp, Lea Tahuhu.

South Africa squad: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Suné Luus, Karabo Meso, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Kayla Reyneke, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloé Tryon, Dané van Niekerk.