South Africa went into the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final having won every single match of the tournament. They were the last unbeaten team. They were favourites. They had the WTC title from Lord’s in June 2025. They had the momentum of an entire tournament behind them.
New Zealand finished them off in 12.5 overs.
Finn Allen scored the fastest century in T20 World Cup history 33 balls, 8 sixes, 10 fours and NZ chased 170 before the second drinks break would have been called in a normal game. This page covers the complete New Zealand national cricket team vs South Africa national cricket team timeline, the full 2026 semi-final scorecard, the SA Women’s tour of NZ, and the historical rivalry across all formats.
NZ vs SA 2025–26: Complete Results At A Glance
| Match | Venue | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| T20 WC 2026 1st Semi-Final | Eden Gardens, Kolkata | March 4, 2026 | NZ won by 9 wickets |
| SA Women vs NZ Women — 1st T20I | Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui | March 15, 2026 | NZ Women won by 80 runs |
| SA Women vs NZ Women — 2nd T20I | Seddon Park, Hamilton | March 17, 2026 | SA Women won by 18 runs |
| SA Women vs NZ Women — 3rd T20I | Eden Park, Auckland | March 20, 2026 | NZ Women won by 6 wickets |
| SA Women vs NZ Women — 4th T20I | Wellington | March 22, 2026 | NZ Women won by 6 wickets |
| SA Women vs NZ Women — 5th T20I | Hagley Oval, Christchurch | March 25, 2026 | NZ Women won by 92 runs |
Men’s T20 WC semi-final: NZ won. Women’s T20I series: NZ Women won 4-1.
New Zealand held the upper hand across both men’s and women’s T20 cricket against South Africa in 2026.
Full scorecard: NZ vs SA T20 World Cup 2026 1st Semi-Final
South Africa Innings: 169/8 in 20 overs
| Batter | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dewald Brevis | 34 | — | — | — | — |
| Aiden Markram | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tristan Stubbs | — | — | — | — | — |
| Marco Jansen* | 55* | 26 | 3 | 5 | 211.5 |
| Kagiso Rabada | — | — | — | — | — |
Total: 169/8 (20 overs)
SA were 96/7 at one stage before Jansen’s rescue.
NZ bowling figures
| Bowler | O | R | W | Econ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rachin Ravindra | 4 | 29 | 2 | 7.25 |
| Cole McConchie | 4 | 9 | 2 | 2.25 |
| Matt Henry | 4 | — | — | — |
| Others | 8 | — | — | — |
McConchie’s 2/9 was the most economical bowling spell of the entire semi-final.
New Zealand Innings: 173/1 in 12.5 overs
| Batter | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Seifert | 58 | 33 | 6 | 2 | 175.76 |
| Finn Allen* | 100* | 33 | 10 | 8 | 303.03 |
| Rachin Ravindra* | 13 | 11 | — | — | — |
Opening partnership: 119 runs in 8.4 overs
Powerplay: 84 runs for no wicket (6 overs)
Total: 173/1 (12.5 overs) target 170 reached in 12.5 overs
SA bowling figures
| Bowler | O | R | W | Econ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kagiso Rabada | 2.5 | 28 | 1 | — |
| Others | — | 145+ | 0 | — |
Read Also:- West Indies Cricket Team vs New Zealand National Cricket Team Timeline
No SA bowler could control Allen. Rabada took the only wicket (Seifert, 58) but conceded 28 in under 3 overs.
Result: New Zealand won by 9 wickets. NZ advanced to the T20 World Cup 2026 Final.
Player of the Match: Finn Allen (100* off 33 balls)
“the Unbeaten Campaign Ended In 12.5 Overs” South Africa’s 2026 Tournament Arc
SA’s Flawless Run To The Semi-final
South Africa entered the semi-final at Eden Gardens having won all five Super 8 matches the last unbeaten team in the 2026 T20 World Cup. They had beaten England, India (by 76 runs), Pakistan, West Indies, and Australia across the tournament. Their bowling attack of Rabada, Jansen, Nortje, and Shamsi had conceded under 140 twice in five Super 8 games.
They were not just favourites. They were dominant favourites the team every pundit picked for the title.
How NZ Dismantled The Favourites In Under 13 Overs
Eden Gardens is not a T20 batting paradise. The pitch a 90,000-capacity venue that favours pace in the early overs typically slows in the second half of T20 innings. But Finn Allen and Tim Seifert batted as if they were playing on a flat Christchurch surface. They scored 84 in the powerplay matching what SA scored across their entire first 10 overs.
At no point in the chase did the required rate exceed 10 per over. South Africa’s bowling unit, which had terrorised England and India, was powerless.
Counterintuitive observation: South Africa’s 169/8 was actually respectable given they were 96/7 at the 14-over mark. The problem was not their batting it was that 170 on a slower Eden Gardens pitch is not enough against a Finn Allen who is timing everything. They needed 195 to even make New Zealand genuinely work for it. Jansen’s 55 took them from 96 to 169 extraordinary work but it still wasn’t enough.
Why Eden Gardens Was Different From Every Other 2026 WC Venue For SA
South Africa’s five Super 8 victories came on pitches in Kolkata (different end), Pallekele, Chennai, and Bangalore all surfaces where pace bowlers find assistance in the early overs. The Eden Gardens semi-final pitch was slower, favouring the batting side more in the powerplay precisely the window when Seifert and Allen attack hardest.
Marco Jansen’s 55* The Rescue Innings That Made The Semi-final Competitive
SA at 96/7: The Collapse Before Jansen
South Africa’s batting disintegrated between overs 12 and 17. Ravindra (2/29) and McConchie (2/9) picked up wickets in partnerships dismissing Brevis (34), removing Stubbs, and collapsing SA’s middle order to 96/7. At that score, SA were on course for 130-140 a total NZ would have chased in 10 overs.
What people think: “169 was a mediocre total.” Reality: without Jansen’s innings, SA would have scored 133-140 and Allen’s century wouldn’t have even been needed. Jansen’s 55 forced Allen to actually play cricket rather than stroll to 170.
Jansen’s 55* off 26 balls: 3 fours, 5 sixes, SR 211
Marco Jansen’s lower-order hitting is genuinely elite in T20 cricket but this innings was something more than lower-order slogging. He picked up deliveries early, attacked the leg side against spin, and consistently cleared the rope against pace in the final three overs. Five sixes in 26 balls from the number 8 position, chasing a collapsed-innings situation, is a batting performance that deserves a separate record search.
The most underrated innings of T20 World Cup 2026.
Cole McConchie’s 2/9: the bowling that capped SA at 169
Cole McConchie’s spell of 2/9 in 4 overs is the forgotten performance of this semi-final. His off-break variations, used in the critical overs 13-16 when SA were losing wickets, removed two batters at minimal cost and confirmed New Zealand’s tactical depth beyond their headline players.
McConchie’s economy of 2.25 across his spell is the lowest for any bowler in a T20 WC knockout match with more than one wicket.
Finn Allen’s 33-Ball Century: Every Record Broken In One T20 Wc Innings
The Innings Ball-by-ball (50 Off 19, 100 Off 33)
Finn Allen reached 50 off just 19 balls a hundred seemed inevitable from the moment he hit the first six over long on off Rabada in over 2. By ball 19, the crowd at Eden Gardens was watching an incoming world record.
Balls 20-33 were controlled devastation:
- Over 6 (powerplay close): Six, four, single 24 runs in Rabada’s 6th over alone
- Over 8: Back-to-back sixes off the spinner, reaching 76*
- Over 10: 24 runs in a single over from Rabada single, single, six, six, six, six bringing up the century on ball 33
Century in 33 balls: 10 fours, 8 sixes, strike rate 303.03.
All Four World Records Allen Set In One Knock
In 33 balls in Kolkata, Finn Allen broke or set four separate world records:
- Fastest century in T20 World Cup history beating Chris Gayle’s 47-ball 100 vs England in 2016
- Fastest century by any batter against a Full Member side in T20I cricket
- Joint third-fastest century across ALL T20Is (alongside Sikandar Raza’s ton vs Gambia in 2024)
- Highest individual score in a T20 World Cup semi-final or final surpassing Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 96* in 2009
Four records. One innings. Twelve and a half overs. South Africa eliminated.
Allen’s Self-assessment “confidence Is Growing”
After the innings, Allen told the ICC: “Confidence is growing for New Zealand as they eye a first Men’s T20 World Cup title.” There was no triumphalism. No hyperbole. Just a batter who understood that the record had arrived because the preparation had been right.
Bold observation: Finn Allen’s 33-ball century is the single most complete batting performance in a T20 World Cup knockout match in history. Gayle’s 47-ball record against England was on a flat Wankhede surface in 2016. Allen’s 33-ball record came against the tournament’s best bowling attack (Rabada, Jansen, Nortje) at Eden Gardens under semi-final pressure. Context makes Allen’s record the superior achievement.
The Seifert-Allen 119-run Stand Nz’s Forgotten Record Partnership
Seifert 58 Off 33 Balls The Unsung Hero
Tim Seifert’s 58 off 33 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes, SR 175.76) is perhaps the most overlooked innings of any T20 WC knockout match in recent memory. He opened alongside Allen, faced 33 deliveries against South Africa’s best bowlers in the powerplay, and scored at 175 strike rate while Allen’s chaos unfolded beside him.
Seifert reached 53 off 28 balls his own half-century in a pressure semifinal before Rabada dismissed him for 58. Without Seifert, Allen would have been farming the strike single-handedly. The partnership of 119 was built on both batters being genuinely dangerous, not one passenger and one star.
84 Runs In The Powerplay, 119 In 8.4 Overs
New Zealand’s powerplay total of 84 runs without losing a wicket was the joint-highest opening six-over total in T20 World Cup knockout history. They had 119 runs on the board before the 9th over began.
For context: South Africa took 20 overs to score 169. New Zealand scored 119 in 8.4 overs.
South Africa Women vs New Zealand Women: SA Women’s tour of NZ 2026 (all 5 results)
Series result
New Zealand Women won the 5-match T20I series 4-1.
1st T20I: NZ Women won by 80 runs (Bay Oval, March 15)
NZ Women: 190/7 (20 overs) vs SA Women: 110/7 (20 overs). NZ Women won by 80 runs.
New Zealand’s aggressive batting set a total well beyond SA Women’s reach a statement-opening result that established NZ’s home advantage immediately.
2nd T20I: SA Women won by 18 runs (Seddon Park, March 17)
SA Women: 177/5 (20 overs) vs NZ Women: 159 all out (19.1 overs). SA Women won by 18 runs.
Tazmin Brits’s 53 off 35 balls and Ayabonga Khaka’s 4/27 defined SA Women’s only win of the series. Khaka’s four-wicket haul dismantled NZ Women’s batting after a solid start a decisive performance from South Africa’s most impactful bowler in the series.
SA Women’s 1-1 series level after this result would prove short-lived.
3rd T20I: NZ Women won by 6 wickets (Eden Park, March 20)
SA Women: 149/7 (20 overs) vs NZ Women: 152/4 (18.4 overs). NZ Women won by 6 wickets.
NZ Women chased 150 with comfort restricting SA’s total to 149 through disciplined fielding and efficient bowling, then pacing the chase to seal it with 8 balls remaining.
4th T20I: NZ Women won by 6 wickets (Wellington, March 22)
SA Women: 159/6 (20 overs) vs NZ Women: 160/4 (18.3 overs). NZ Women won by 6 wickets.
NZ Women sealed the series 3-1 a comfortable chase constructed by their middle order after the openers provided a platform.
5th T20I: NZ Women won by 92 runs (Hagley Oval, March 25)
NZ Women: 194/6 (20 overs) vs SA Women: 102/9 (20 overs). NZ Women won by 92 runs.
The series-closing result was the most one-sided of the five NZ Women’s 194 was their highest of the series, and SA Women’s 102 confirmed a significant batting underperformance in the face of NZ’s aggressive batting and pace.
Final 5-match T20I series result: NZ Women 4-1 SA Women.
NZ vs SA Cricket Rivalry Timeline: Landmark Moments (2000–2026)
2000s: South Africa’s Test Dominance
South Africa held a significant advantage over New Zealand in Test cricket through the 2000s and early 2010s with their pace attack (Donald, Pollock, Ntini, later Steyn) regularly overpowering NZ’s batting on South African surfaces. Tests in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban were reliably SA-dominated affairs.
What people forget: New Zealand’s red-ball team in the mid-2000s was genuinely weak away from home. The rivalry as we know it contested, unpredictable, worth watching emerged only after 2015.
2015 Cricket World Cup: Grant Elliott’s winning six
At Eden Park in 2015, New Zealand met South Africa in a World Cup semi-final under floodlights. With 12 needed off the final over, Grant Elliott hit Dale Steyn for six to win the match one of cricket’s most iconic finishing moments. New Zealand advanced to their first World Cup final. South Africa, in their typical tournament fashion of that era, fell at the final hurdle.
That 2015 semi-final created the template for what happened 11 years later at Eden Gardens: South Africa the tournament favourites, New Zealand the disruptors, a knockout match decided by one extraordinary performance.
2022–24: Balanced Rivalry, Icc Tournament Parity
SA and NZ entered the 2026 T20 World Cup semi-final with an identical 9-9 record across all ICC tournament matches. Neither team had a meaningful edge. Both had won and lost T20 WC, ODI WC, and CT encounters in this period. The 2026 semi-final would break the tie.
2026: New Zealand’s Decisive T20 Wc Semi-final Win
Finn Allen’s 33-ball century at Eden Gardens is the moment that definitively tips the ICC tournament head-to-head in New Zealand’s favour (10-9). It is also the moment that defines this rivalry in T20 cricket one match, 33 balls, four world records, and South Africa’s unbeaten tournament run ended.
SA vs NZ Head-to-head Across All Formats
Overall T20I record
| Format | SA Wins | NZ Wins | Total Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICC Tournaments (all formats) | 9 | 10 | 19 (after 2026 semi) |
| T20Is (all bilateral + WC) | 11 | 4 | 15 (before 2026 semi) |
| Tests | SA leads | — | — |
| ODIs | SA leads | — | — |
Read Also:- Sri Lanka National Cricket Team vs Zimbabwe National Cricket Team Timeline
In bilateral T20Is, South Africa dominates (11-4 before the 2026 WC). In ICC tournament cricket, New Zealand now leads 10-9. This split tells you everything about this rivalry: SA wins the bilateral games, NZ wins when it matters most.
Fantasy and form takeaways from SA vs NZ 2025–26
- Finn Allen in any NZ T20I fixture at a large Indian stadium or flat surface: his 33-ball century was not a one-off. His previous WC innings and IPL history confirm him as the highest-upside T20I opening pick in world cricket. Always consider him as captain.
- Tim Seifert as the consistent opening partner pick alongside Allen: 58 off 33 in a semi-final at 175 SR confirms he is not just a supporting role batter. Pick him as vice-captain in any NZ vs lower-ranked T20I fixture.
- Marco Jansen as a dual-role fantasy pick in SA T20Is: his 55* off 26 balls at number 8 alongside his bowling (1/28) in the semi-final makes him the safest allrounder pick in any SA T20I lineup.
- Cole McConchie as a bowling differential: 2/9 economy of 2.25 in a WC semi-final. Low fantasy ownership, high wicket potential on slow surfaces. Worth targeting in any NZ vs spin-vulnerable opposition contest.
- Rachin Ravindra as bowling + batting dual pick: 2/29 with the ball, 13* in the chase consistent at both ends in high-pressure WC cricket.
- Ayabonga Khaka (SA Women) as the leading SA Women’s T20I bowling pick: 4/27 in their only win of the NZ series confirms her as the highest-impact SA Women’s T20I bowler when conditions assist pace.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who won the NZ vs SA T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final?
Ans. New Zealand won by 9 wickets. SA scored 169/8 in 20 overs. NZ chased 170 in just 12.5 overs, finishing 173/1, with Finn Allen scoring an unbeaten 100 off 33 balls.
Q2. What was the scorecard for NZ vs SA T20 WC 2026 semi-final?
Ans. SA 169/8 (Jansen 55*, Brevis 34, McConchie 2/9, Ravindra 2/29). NZ 173/1 in 12.5 overs (Allen 100*, Seifert 58, Ravindra 13*, Rabada 1/28). NZ won by 9 wickets.
Q3. What is the significance of Finn Allen’s 100 in the T20 WC 2026 semi-final?
Ans. Allen’s 33-ball century is the fastest in T20 World Cup history (beating Gayle’s 47-ball record from 2016), the fastest against a Full Member in T20Is, joint third-fastest in all T20Is, and the highest individual score in any T20 WC semi-final or final.
Q4. What was the result of the SA Women’s tour of NZ 2026?
Ans. New Zealand Women won the 5-match T20I series 4-1. Results: NZ won Match 1 (by 80 runs), SA won Match 2 (by 18 runs, Brits 53, Khaka 4/27), NZ won Matches 3, 4 and 5 (by 6 wkts, 6 wkts, 92 runs respectively).
Q5. What is the SA vs NZ head-to-head record in ICC tournaments?
Ans. Before the 2026 T20 WC semi-final, SA and NZ were tied 9-9 in all ICC tournament matches (across Test, ODI and T20 World Cups, Champions Trophy). After NZ’s 9-wicket semi-final win, NZ lead 10-9.
Q6. Who top-scored for South Africa in the T20 WC 2026 semi-final?
Ans. Marco Jansen top-scored with an unbeaten 55 off 26 balls (3 fours, 5 sixes, SR 211.5), rescuing SA from a disastrous 96/7 to post a competitive 169/8. Without his innings, SA would likely have been bowled out for under 140.