T20 World Cup predictions – South Africa and New Zealand to battle it out for berth in final

The 2026 T20 World Cup has reached its business end.

New Zealand and South Africa will face each other in the first semi-final.

What could transpire? Read on to find out.

New Zealand v South Africa

They have faced each other once already in pool play, with the Proteas coming out convincing winners.

Aiden Markram’s team will be hoping for a repeat of that performance when New Zealand and South Africa meet in the T20 World Cup’s first semi-final on Wednesday.

South Africa may be the lowest ranked side amongst the final four, but they are the form side and the only team still undefeated in the competition.

In the last year these two sides have faced each other on four occasions, with the Black Caps winning three times. It’s all shaping up to be an engrossing encounter.

Key talking points

New Zealand

It hasn’t been easy for the Black Caps, but they keep doing just enough to keep their title hopes alive.

The only side in the semis who have lost two games in the competition, New Zealand come into the semis as underdogs – but that’s a position they will be comfortable with.

Like South Africa, New Zealand have never won the tournament – their best finish was as runners-up in 2021.

The Black Caps are a team packed with quality cricketers, not necessarily with T20 stars – that makes them consistent even if they are not always explosive.

South Africa

Whenever the Proteas advance in a tournament talk inevitably turns to choking.

This is of course completely unfair, but it is a legacy that has developed over time, sometimes correctly (because there have been times when they did choke), and more recently due to it being a convenient narrative.

As it stands the Proteas are the lowest ranked side of the four teams left in the competition. They are ranked five in the world with New Zealand four, England two and India one.

In many ways the Proteas have already over-achieved simply by making it to the last four.

Also read: 8 of the strangest cricket injuries

Venue: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

New Zealand have played twice at Eden Gardens, winning once and losing once. For South Africa, Wednesday’s semi-final will be their first ever T20I at the ground.

The average first innings score at Eden Gardens is 162.

The highest T20I score made at Eden Gardens was Scotland’s 207 for four from 20 overs against Italy earlier in the tournament.

The highest score successfully chased at the ground was India’s 199 for five against the West Indies in Sunday’s Super Eight encounter.

Although there is not much in it from a results perspective, the team that wins the toss in Kolkata generally opts to chase with 12 skippers opting to field and six electing to bat first.

The lowest score successfully defended at the ground was India’s 186/5 from 20 overs, made against the West Indies in 2022.

Weather

The weather in Kolkata on Wednesday evening is expected to be warm and comfortable. Temperatures will gradually drop from around 27 degrees to 24.

The sky will remain clear with light southerly winds and no chance of rain. Humidity may rise towards 90%, making it feel slightly warmer than the actual temperature.

Form

• New Zealand: L, W, NR, W, L
• South Africa: W, W, W, W, W

Key players

Tim Seifert

Ranked at 10 on the ICC’s T20 batsman list, Seifert is the difference between a good start and the Black Cap middle order having to play catch-up.

A superb striker of the ball Seifert is averaging 43.20 in the tournament and has already hit 216 runs. Of that total, 71,29 percent have been boundaries.

Lungi Ngidi

Shaun Pollock cheekily suggested that Ngidi was South Africa’s very own mystery spinner given the quality of his variations and his stellar slow ball.

Ngidi is the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament, but he has been so much more than just a wicket-taking threat.

His strike-rate of 12 and average of 13.75 make him more potent that Jasprit Bumrah, but he has also been astoundingly economical, going at 6.87 per over.

It is his ability to keep the runs down that buys other bowlers wickets and which makes Ngidi such a key cog in the Proteas machine. The same can be said for David Miller.

Prediction: South Africa

The Proteas are the tournament’s form team, and they are firing on all cylinders with players performing at all levels – they have two batsmen in the tournament’s top ten and three bowlers in the top five.

New Zealand have just one player on either of those lists, Tim Seifert at 10 on the batting ratings.

Without a doubt, New Zealand are a good team, and at fourth on the ICC rankings they are ahead of South Africa, but the Proteas have the momentum, and they should be good enough to get the job done in Kolkata.

Read next: Why the T20 World Cup is Harry Brook’s golden chance to salvage his reputation

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Explained: How the first ever The Hundred auction will work and who has signed up

2026 marks a significant change in the world of the Hundred as there will be an auction for the first time, replacing the former draft model.

In what is the first season since teams became either part or majority owned by external parties, the ECB announced that the pre-season format for recruitment will also be a lot more similar to the IPL.

How will the Hundred auction work?

Instead of a draft system, this year teams will conduct an auction to decide which players will make up their squad for this year’s tournament.

Before we get there though, teams were given the option to sign up to four players. A maximum of three of these can be direct signings and are either overseas players or centrally contracted England players. A minimum of one will be a retention from their squad last year.

Retaining those will take money from the pot that has been given to each team and looks like this:

Men’s Competition – £350k (1 signing), £650k (2 players), £850k (3 players), £950k (4 players).

Women’s Competition – £130k (1 signing), £240k (2 players), £310k (3 players), £360k (4 players).

After that has been confirmed, teams will take part in an auction held on March 11 for the women’s sides and March 12 for the men.

For the men, they have a salary cap of £2.05m to work to sign up to an 18-player squad while the women have £880,000 for 15.

Before the auction, teams will submit a list of 75-100 players they are interested in and this will form the Auction Longlists of around 200 players which will come from the 1,000 players that put their name up for auction.

After it has been decided which players will enter the auction, they will then be given a tier of Hero, Ranked and Nominated based on the amount of aggregated pre-registered interest from each team.

The Hero players will be bid on in the first phase of the auction, followed by the ranked and nominated players in the next two phases.

After teams have finished with the auction, there is still an additional chance to strengthen in the form of the Vitality Wildcard which allows teams to sign players who perform well in the Vitality Blast, giving players not selected in the auction a chance to still earn a contract.

Which players are part of the auction?

1,000 players from 18 nations have signed up for the auction and there are plenty of big names up for grabs.

The likes of Joe Root, Sophie Devine, Adil Rashid, Deepti Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Tammy Beaumont, Sunil Narine, Beth Mooney, Shadab Khan, Deandra Dottin, Trent Boult and Davina Perrin have all signed up.

A full list for the men can be found here and the women can be found here.

A total of 67 Pakistan players have registered which comes as Indian-owned teams Manchester Super Giants, Sunrisers Leeds, MI London and Southern Brave would not bid on players from that country.

READ NEXT: The biggest scores in T20 World Cup history as West Indies hit huge figure

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Will Jacks the hero again as England fight back to win T20 World Cup thriller

Will Jacks the hero again as England fight back to win T20 World Cup thriller

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The ECB opening doors to private investors in the Hundred has already backfired

In July 2025, ECB chair Richard Thompson said it was a “seminal moment for cricket in England and Wales.”

He made that statement after stakes in six of the Hundred teams had been completed, opening the door to private investment and marking a change in not only the franchise league but English cricket in general. While previously the teams were owned jointly by the ECB and county cricket clubs, now the ECB’s shares have gone to American and Indian companies.

The inspiration for such a move which had teams like the Northern Superchargers being sold for £100m is obvious – the Premier League. English football has long been the plaything of foreign investors and the top 20 teams in the country are now almost exclusively owned by American and Middle Eastern companies.

Even at the time, critics of the Hundred – of which there are many – doubted how good the sales away from the ECB were, effectively handing over control, and those fears have already come true in a matter of six months.

Earlier this month, the ECB wrote to every team in the Hundred to remind them of their responsibilities as a team. Without context, it would seem an odd move but behind the scenes, a very real situation has been bubbling up.

The India/Pakistan tension has been something that the ICC in particular has been happy to milk for all its worth. That fixture remains the most lucrative on the cricketing schedule but on-field rivalries became something more during the T20 World Cup when Pakistan initially refused to play India.

While it looked like a problem for the ICC to deal with, the more forward-thinking members of the ECB may have already begun to wonder about how they too soon may have to deal with the problem.

A report from the BBC suggested that four Hundred teams – Manchester Super Giants, MI London, Southern Brave and Sunrisers Leeds – would not consider signing Pakistan players for this year’s tournament as these clubs all have Indian owners.

In the email, the ECB reportedly warned of action that could be taken if there was evidence that cricketers are being ignored purely due to their nationality but when it comes down to it, it remains to be seen just how much the ECB can do.

Franchises that ignore the warning could be referred to the independent Cricket Regulator who is responsible for monitoring compliance with the game’s regulations but how do you prove a player was not chosen because of their nationality rather than ability?

It is also a terrible look for clubs in the UK in particular. British Pakistanis are the second-largest ethnic minority group in the country and such flagrant anti-discrimination may well have the ECB facing questions from the government.

The problem has already been put to England white-ball captain Harry Brook who said it would be a “shame” if Pakistani players were not picked but Brook is one of many players employed by an Indian-owned franchise, the Sunrisers.

It is a problem that has no obvious solution and one that will only get more amplified as days tick down to the player auction on March 11 and 12.

But ultimately, this is what has become of the ECB’s decision to open the door to foreign investment and the crusade to push the Hundred to the top of the English cricket agenda. By selling a controlling stake, the ECB has forfeited any ability it had to control the game it created and it is hurtling towards a PR disaster.

READ NEXT: The biggest scores in T20 World Cup history as West Indies hit huge figure

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T20 World Cup predictions – England get a bit of a free hit against New Zealand

The 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup continues.

We are deep into the Super Eights stage.

Who is up next – and what are their chances of winning?

Find out more

England v New Zealand

Key talking points

England

England have qualified for the semifinals, so Friday’s encounter against the Black Caps is a bit of a free hit for them.

A win will secure them top spot in the group, but that could mean facing India in the semi – although they won’t be overly concerned by that.

Rather they are likely to view the game as a chance to continue building momentum and to play some of their out of form stars back into touch. In this regard veteran opener Jos Buttler is a big concern.

The former skipper has struggled for runs all tournament managing just 15 in his last five outings. He failed once again against Pakistan, caught behind for two after bottom edging a cut.

While England may look to rest some of their frontline bowlers, they are unlikely to tamper too much with their batting.

New Zealand

At 84 for six against Sri Lanka, it looked like New Zealand‘s World Cup campaign was coming to an end.

But a sensational 84 runs stand for the seventh wicket between skipper Mitch Santner and Cole McConchie saw them to a more than respectable total and ultimately to victory.

The win sees them go second in the group with three points, behind the already qualified England. Critically, New Zealand’s prospects of advancing to the semis are firmly in their own hands.

A win for New Zealand sees them finish top of the table and advance. A loss will leave them on three points which is the most Pakistan can reach, assuming they beat Sri Lanka in their final game.

As it stands however there is a big gulf between the net run rates of New Zealand (3.050) and Pakistan (-0.461). If New Zealand can avoid a hiding, they should be through to the last four.

Also read: 8 of the strangest cricket injuries

Venue: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo

Friday’s game sees New Zealand return to the Premadasa Stadium for the second time three days after the win earlier in the week against Sri Lanka.

New Zealand have played four games at the Premadasa Stadium, and they have yet to taste defeat.

They won the first two encounters which were back in 2009 and the most recent game against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, while their other game was the rained out Super Eight opener against Pakistan.

England meanwhile have won two and lost one of the three games they have played at the venue. They have yet to appear at the Premadasa in this World Cup – the last time they played at the ground was in 2018.

Friday’s game will be the 56th T20I to be played at the ground.

From the 55 games played at the ground, the side that chased has won 29 times while the side that batted first has won 24. The last three games at the ground were won by the side that batted first.

The average first innings score at the venue is 144.

The highest score recorded at the stadium was Bangladesh’s 215 for five from 19.4 overs made against Sri Lanka in 2018. This is also the highest successful chase at the ground.

The lowest score made at the ground was Afghanistan’s 80 all out, scored against England in 2012.

The lowest score defended at the ground was South Africa’s 115 for six from 20 overs made against Sri Lanka in 2013.

Weather

Colombo on Friday evening is expected to be beautifully clear and calm. Temperatures will gradually dip from a warm 28 degrees, although it may feel closer to 30 due to humidity levels at around 75 percent.

With light winds and marginal chance of rain at around five percent, it is shaping up for an ideal night for cricket.

Form

• England: W, W, W, W, L
• New Zealand: W, NR, W, L, W

Key players

Harry Brook

One of the signs of a good leader is the ability step up when it matters and come through with the goods.

England’s skipper, Harry Brook, may not have had the best tournament thus far, but when it mattered on Tuesday he delivered as he promoted himself up the order to three to rescue his side from a precarious 58 for four.

Batting with confidence and class against both the spinners and the quicks, Brook hit a superb 100 from 50 balls on a night when the next best score from one of his teammates was just 28.

Brook, who averages 30.97 in T20Is will be delighted with his return against Pakistan and he will be eager to ensure he continues against the Kiwis.

Rachin Ravindra

For large parts of their game against Sri Lanka, it didn’t look like New Zealand would win.

But good teams always find a way to get the job done and good players stand up when it counts most, and that is exactly what Rachin Ravindra did on Wednesday as he delivered a genuine all-round performance to win Man of the Match.

While wickets fell around him, he stood strong, hitting the second highest score of the Black Caps innings with 32 from 22 balls.

Then with the ball he returned career best figures of four for 27 as Sri Lanka faltered badly against the Kiwi’s spin. It was a performance that will have filled Ravindra with confidence.

Prediction: New Zealand

This will be a close game between the two sides likely to advance from the group. If New Zealand lose there is a chance that Pakistan can usurp them to claim a spot in the semi-final.

England are already through, so there is more on the line for New Zealand, and it is likely that will reflect in their performance.

Read next: Why the T20 World Cup is Harry Brook’s golden chance to salvage his reputation

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The time is now to declare David Miller a true great of T20I cricket

Proteas veteran David Miller produced what will surely go down as one of the greatest T20 World Cup innings ever, when he clubbed a superb 63 from 35 balls against India on Sunday. What made Miller’s innings so incredible was the match situation.

Miller arrived at the crease with the Proteas in all sorts of trouble at 20 for three with four overs gone. Playing against the World Champions and the number one side in the world on their home ground was always going to be a tough assignment, but Miller was unphased as he launched a fightback that wrestled back control of the game and ultimately saw his side to a famous 76-run win.

Miller is an outstanding player, but at almost 37-years-old, his career is rapidly coming towards an end. He may well look to stay on until after next years’ ODI World Cup which South Africa is hosting, but before that happens, let’s take some time to appreciate the man who is quite possibly the best batsman to ever play T20 cricket for South Africa.

Usually, any suggestion that Miller is the greatest Protea T20 batsman of all time is flat batted out of town with the claim that the mantle belongs to AB de Villiers. But that simply isn’t true. When looking at T20 batting metrics that matter the most important ones are average and strike rate. In both categories Miller comfortably trumps De Villiers. Where Miller averages 34.62 per innings De Villiers comes in at 26.12.

Also read: 8 of the strangest cricket injuries

Miller is all thriller, no filler

In terms of strike rate Miller bats at 142.07 while De Villiers went at 135.16. Miller beats De Villiers in all categories – he has played more T20s for South Africa, scored more runs, been not out on more occasions and boasts a better high score (106* versus 79*). It looks like any suggestion that AB trumps Miller is off the table.

So, who else could claim the title of South Africa’s greatest T20 batsman of all time? In terms of averages there are only four players who sit ahead of Miller on the list – JP Duminy is top of the pile, followed by Faf du Plessis, Jacques Kallis and Rilee Rossouw. Of those four Kallis and Rossouw both played less than 30 T20s for the Proteas and probably don’t boast the body of work to be considered for the title.

That leaves Faf and JP to vie for the position. Their averages are both better than Millers, but conversely Miller’s strike rate trumps theirs – Duminy hits at a rate of 126.24 and Du Plessis at a rate of 134.24. In fairness to Duminy he played at a different time, when strike rates were slightly lower.

What next for the great?

Right now, it is tough to separate the three contenders for the crown. The final metric, when determining ‘greatness’ is what players have won. We are not talking win percentages here; we are talking silverware. As it stands no Protea player has ever won a World Cup. Miller was part of the Proteas side that made it to the final in the West Indies in 2024 which was a significant achievement. But the absence of a trophy remains a black mark for all the players who can be considered South Africa’s best T20 batsman.

If, and it remains a big if at this stage, the Proteas go on to win the current World Cup then it would be hard to deny assertions that David Miller is indeed the greatest Protea T20 batsman of all time. Whatever happens, take a moment to appreciate Miller – he is an understated genius, brimming with big match temperament. If anyone can bat South Africa to the promised land of World Cup glory, David Miller is the man.

Read next: Why the T20 World Cup is Harry Brook’s golden chance to salvage his reputation

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Should England drop Jos Buttler after dismal T20 World Cup showing?

There is a worrying Jos Buttler trend that any England fan will not want to be reminded of this World Cup.

In all but one of his innings so far this tournament, he has scored fewer runs than he did in his previous.

The once star of England’s white ball game has found himself in a rut and a score of two last time out in Pakistan poses the real question of is it time for England to drop Buttler?

The arguments to do so are clear. Buttler started the tournament with an okay if not fantastic 26 against Nepal but that slipped to 21 against the tournament’s surprise package West Indies.

Against Scotland, Buttler managed just three, the same score he managed in the next game against Italy.

He started the Super Eight phase with seven against Sri Lanka but lasted just three balls in a chase of Pakistan’s 164.

To make matters worse, Buttler is occupying one of the two opening spots and crucially at the crease for the six-over powerplay. There is a more than strong argument to suggest that if not dropped entirely, Buttler should drop down the order to allow other batters who are in better nick to enjoy the best time to score runs.

The argument against doing so is one that is becoming increasingly based on history than what could be expected to come.

Buttler is England’s T20 top scorer by more than 1,500 runs. Eoin Morgan may have been the face of white-ball transformation but it was Buttler that was the engine behind it and crucially the one who carried on when Morgan retired.

Buttler’s drop in form is not just confined to the World Cup either. Away from an unbeaten 97 in the South Africa franchise league, he failed to score above 25 and in England’s series against Sri Lanka, he averaged 27. Tom Banton meanwhile averaged 45.

That has been Buttler’s benefit so far, there have been other players to pick up the pieces. Jacob Bethell has been an erstwhile opener given how soon he has appeared at the crease and disruption at the top order has a knock-on effect for all those below.

The world of modern sport means almost everyone has a podcast and the benefit of that is we have heard direct from the horse’s mouth.

“T20 is one of those games that asks you to keep making plays,” Buttler said on his ‘For the Love of Cricket’ podcast he shares with Stuart Broad.

“There’s times where you’ve maybe been out of form in a Test match, with the batting coach, who might say ‘just rein it in for a bit and try to bat for an hour and it will come back to you’.

“So by hook or by crook, bat for an hour. But in T20s, you’ve got to keep playing the scoreboard, if you’re chasing 10 an over you’ve got to play accordingly.

“I saw Nasser say ‘just bat for 15 overs’ and I would love to just bat for 15 overs but I don’t want to bat for 15 overs just for myself and ignore the game. You’ve got to still play the game.”

It is an honest admission from Buttler but also one that shows he’s not going to change his gameplan anytime soon. Buttler is hoping to hit his way into form but England are past the stage of a World Cup when you can wait for a player to do that.

The match against Pakistan should be a turning point and if not a complete dropping from the team, it is time for the coaches to make a change and try and unlock the best of this talented England batting side. Buttler should move down to five and allow Bethell a deserved return to the opening spots. As for Buttler, a return to a position he spent the majority of his T20 career at and the finisher role may allow him to return to his imperious best.

READ NEXT: The biggest scores in T20 World Cup history as West Indies hit huge figure

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