{"id":5257,"date":"2026-03-04T20:35:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/new-zealand-annihilate-south-africa-to-reach-t20-world-cup-final\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T20:35:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:35:26","slug":"new-zealand-annihilate-south-africa-to-reach-t20-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/new-zealand-annihilate-south-africa-to-reach-t20-world-cup-final\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand annihilate South Africa to reach T20 World Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Finn Allen hits fastest century at a T20 World Cup as New Zealand crush South Africa by nine wickets to reach final.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>New \u2060Zealand stormed into the Twenty20 World Cup final \u2060with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/liveblog\/2026\/3\/4\/live-south-africa-vs-new-zealand-t20-world-cup\">a nine-wicket demolition<\/a> of South Africa in \u2060the first semifinal at the Eden Gardens.<\/p>\n<p>Put into bat, South Africa recovered \u200cfrom a precarious 77-5 to post a competitive 169-8 after Marco Jansen led their recovery with a belligerent 55 not \u2060out.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/4\/irans-womens-asian-cup-team-have-so-much-concern-for-families-back-home\">Iran\u2019s Women\u2019s Asian Cup team have \u2018so much concern\u2019 for families back home<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/4\/irans-place-in-world-cup-2026-in-doubt-amid-conflict-trumps-dismissal\">\u2018Sports cold war\u2019: How the Middle East conflict could disrupt the World Cup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/3\/fifa-world-cup-2026-ticket-frenzy-unfolds-amid-global-unrest\">FIFA World Cup 2026 ticket frenzy unfolds amid global unrest<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/2\/will-the-us-israeli-attacks-impact-irans-participation-in-world-cup-2026\">Will the US-Israeli attacks on Iran have an impact on the World Cup?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Finn Allen smashed an \u2060unbeaten 100 off 33 balls, however, and shared a 117-run \u2060opening stand with Tim Seifert (58) as \u2060New Zealand romped \u2060to their target in only 12.5 overs.<\/p>\n<p>Allen\u2019s achievement was the fastest century scored at a T20 cricket World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted to start well and put them on the back foot early,\u201d Allen said. \u201cIt is easy for me when Tim [Seifert] is going like that. The way he batted got us off to an absolute flyer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is easy in semifinals to stay up for the fight, and with Tim [Seifert] we keep each other in it, and we enjoy it out there together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Jansen\u2019s fifty came in response to the Kiwis\u2019 spinners Rachin Ravindra and Cole McConchie taking two wickets each before Tristan Stubbs and Jansen put on 73 to rescue the innings at Kolkata, India\u2019s Eden Gardens.<\/p>\n<p>Stubbs (29) and Jansen, who hit two fours and five sixes in his 30-ball knock, helped set New Zealand a target of 170 to reach the final.<\/p>\n<p>India successfully chased 196 against the West Indies on Sunday on the same ground.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa were the only unbeaten team in the tournament, while New Zealand had edged into the semifinals on net run rate.<\/p>\n<p>McConchie struck first in the second over with his off-spin to send back Quinton de Kock for 10 and Ryan Rickelton next ball, but Dewald Brevis avoided the hat-trick.<\/p>\n<p>Aiden Markram was reprieved on three when Ravindra dropped him at mid-wicket off pace bowler Lockie Ferguson.<\/p>\n<p>Left-arm spinner Ravindra made amends when he had the South Africa captain caught in the deep by Daryl Mitchell for 18.<\/p>\n<p>David Miller was dropped on three by Glenn Phillips, but fell for six to Ravindra five balls later, with Mitchell again taking the catch at long-on.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa had lost half their side in 10.2 overs when Jimmy Neesham cut short Brevis\u2019s knock on 34.<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson bowled Stubbs, but Jansen hit him for six to reach his fifty.<\/p>\n<p>Pace bowler Matt Henry, who arrived back only on Tuesday night after going home for the birth of his child, took 2-34.<\/p>\n<p>The bowling figures for South Africa will be ones to quickly forget, as the figures to focus on \u2013 and the moment to remember \u2013 belonged to Allen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou take the positives from this game, celebrate little moments of success,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThen we have a final to play on Sunday, and we look forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Defending champions India take on \u200ctwo-time champions England in the second semifinal in Mumbai \u200con \u200cThursday, ahead of Sunday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finn Allen hits fastest century at a T20 World Cup as New Zealand crush South Africa by nine wickets to reach final. New \u2060Zealand stormed into the Twenty20 World Cup final \u2060with a nine-wicket demolition of South Africa in \u2060the first semifinal at the Eden Gardens. Put into bat, South Africa recovered \u200cfrom a precarious &#8230; <a title=\"New Zealand annihilate South Africa to reach T20 World Cup final\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/new-zealand-annihilate-south-africa-to-reach-t20-world-cup-final\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about New Zealand annihilate South Africa to reach T20 World Cup final\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}