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South Africa vs New Zealand T20 Cricket World Cup semi-final Predictions - Brevis to bat Proteas into their second World Cup final

Simon Lewis

Editor

Last updated: 04 Mar 2026

Simon Lewis 04 Mar 2026

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Dewald Brevis hit four sixes in his 18-ball 42 against Zimbabwe.
Glenn Phillips has scored 40, 42, 76* and 39 in his last six innings.
Can South Africa beat New Zealand to hit their second T20 World Cup final in a row?

Expired

Dewald Brevis top-scored against Zimbabwe (Getty Images).

South Africa vs New Zealand Predictions

South Africa have gone through this World Cup undefeated and are looking like an incredibly strong unit. New Zealand have plenty of dangermen in their line-up, and they have the quality to make the most of a one-off semi-final contest. I’m backing the Proteas as their top-order is looking so strong and their bowling attack is world-class.

South Africa vs New Zealand Predictions
Head-to-Head
South Africa Form
New Zealand Form
South Africa vs New Zealand Team News & Squads

South Africa’s Dewald Brevis has scored 23, 21, 36, 45 & 42 in his last 5 innings.
South Africa’s Aiden Markram has scored 86*, 28 & 82* in his last 5 innings.
New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips top-scored with 39 off 28 balls against England.
New Zealand’s Finn Allen has scored 84*, 31, 21, 23 & 29 in his last 5 innings.

Head-to-Head

South Africa have won two and lost three of their last five T20Is against New Zealand.

South Africa Form

South Africa made it seven wins and no defeats in their year’s World Cup when they beat Zimbabwe by five wickets in their final Super 8 match ahead of the semi-finals.

Kwena Maphaka knocked over two of Zimbabwe’s top four batters in returning figures of 2/21 at just 5.25 runs per over. Cobin Bosch also picked up two wickets, his four overs at the end of the innings going for 40 runs as Zimbabwe squeezed their way up to 153/7 off their 20 overs.

South Africa’s openers both failed for once, opening the path for Ryan Rickelton (31 off 22) and Dewald Brevis (42 off 18) to put the Proteas on track for a five-wicket win off 17.5 overs.

New Zealand Form

After winning their last two matches on the bounce, New Zealand lost a nail-biter to England when they went down by four wickets with just three balls left in the match.

Tim Seifert (35 off 25) and Finn Allen (29 off 19) got New Zealand off to a strong start before slipping to 66/2 in the 8th over. Glenn Phillips scored a well-crafted 39 off 28 balls, but there was little support from the middle-order as New Zealand ended on 159/7 off their 20 overs.

Matt Henry (1/19), Lockie Ferguson (1/14), Glenn Phillips (1/43) and Rachin Ravindra each picked up a wicket as the Black Caps rocked the England top-order, reducing them to 58/4 in the ninth over.

Having taken 4/27 against Sri Lanka in their previous match, Ravindra added two more wickets (3/19, econ 4.75) as England struggled through to 117/6 at the end of the 17th over. England’s seventh-wicket pair struck out hard to see them home with three balls to spare.

South Africa vs New Zealand Team News & Squads

South Africa rested some of their key players for their final match of the Super 8s against Zimbabwe, who were already out of contention for the semi-final. The side is not taking anything for granted against their opponents in the semi-final.

“We had a good run against them in the group stages, but both teams have played a lot of cricket since then,” said skipper Aiden Markram in a press conference on Tuesday.

“It’s a completely fresh start being a semifinal, which is exciting as well. I don’t think it’s as straightforward as just being able to repeat that. We’ll try to bring our best game to the front again,” added Markram.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, New Zealand captain Mitch Santner admitted that his side rued not pulling off the win, as it has left their path to the semi-final at the mercy of Pakistan.

"I think the way they paced the chase, it was a good bit of batting. Would have made our lives easier if we won. We played a pretty good game, but there are areas you can look back on with bat and ball, but credit to England,” said Santner.

“We set up a good platform to scrape to 160, then with 40-odd from the last three, to take down the offie was good batting. Tonight we set a platform, got to the second timeout in a good spot then maybe took some tough options. We were thinking that 170-175 would have been a good score," added Santner.

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

New Zealand (possible XI): Finn Allen, Tim Seifert (w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (c), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob Duffy.

Verdict

South Africa v New Zealand

I am backing South Africa to win. I am also backing Dewald Brevis to top score for South Africa.

Glenn Phillips is a good bet to top score for New Zealand.

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Simon is a talented sports writer in South Africa with a strong focus on cricket having played first-team level for UCT, including playing at two Universities Weeks.

From a young age Simon was an avid reader of cricket magazines and books, and went on to be Editor of The Googly, CricketScene SA and SA Cricket, in addition to being a Features Writer on SA Sports Illustrated.

He has interviewed most of South Africa's premier cricketers and was the first writer to interview a teenaged Jacques Kallis.

Simon has also written about English and local football, rugby and cricket, in addition to major international tennis and golf stars and competitions.

You can follow more from Simon at Muckrack, X and LinkedIn.