The former, current and future captains of the Black Caps have combined to carry their side back to the brink of glory.
New Zealand booked a date with India in the Champions Trophy final on Sunday night, outwitting and outclassing South Africa by 50 runs in this morning’s semifinalin Lahore.
After Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson hit hundreds with an elegant ease that belied the stakes, skipper Mitchell Santner curtailed what had been a promising chase by snaring 3-13 in one four-over stint.
Ravindra (108 off 101) and Williamson (102 off 94) helped the Black Caps rack up 362-6 after winning the toss, combining in a 164-run stand that functioned as the passing of a baton from the best of one era to the next.
It was Ravindra’s fifth ODI hundred and fifth in major events on the subcontinent, following the 25-year-old’s ton against Bangladesh earlier in this tournament and the three he collected at the 2023 World Cup in India.
And it was Williamson’s third straight ODI century against South Africa, a streak coming albeit across a stretch of six years that reflected the scarcity of 50-over cricket now on the 34-year-old’s calendar.
The pair departed with work still to be done, but Daryl Mitchell (49 off 37) and Glenn Phillips (49no off 27) plundered 110 from the final 10 overs, finishing off a perfectly paced innings in record style.
The last time they contested a semifinal at a major event – the 2023 World Cup in India – New Zealand allowed the hosts to compile 397-4, the highest score any side have registered in an ICC knockout game.
Eighteen months later, the Black Caps’ 362 represented the third-best total on that chart, along with their highest ODI innings against South Africa and the highest by any team in Champions Trophy history.
Rachin Ravindra is congratulated by Kane Williamson after reaching his century. Photo / Getty Images
But the mark they surpassed also provided a warning – the previous record was set only two weeks ago, when Australia cruised to 356-5 while overhauling England on this same ground.
The Proteas’ target today, in other words, was formidable but within their reach, a power-packed batting order eminently capable of finding the rope in favourable conditions. And so it proved as Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen maintained the requisite tempo through the first 20 overs, a 105-run second-wicket stand blunting the Black Caps’ three-prong seam attack.
The 20 overs through the middle – and specifically the combined allotment of Santner and Michael Bracewell – loomed as a crucial period in the match. South Africa would surely be content to merely survive the twin spinners; New Zealand wanted wickets.
In the space of 22 unerringly accurate deliveries, Santner collected three.
Mitchell Santner celebrates dismissing Temba Bavuma of South Africa during the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal in Lahore. Photo / Getty Images
First, the skipper’s flight deceived his counterpart Bavuma, skewing a catch to Williamson at backward point. Two overs later, both set batters were gone as van der Dussen fell to Santner’s best ball of the match, angling across the right-hander before straightening to strike middle.
Finally, one of the Proteas’ fearsome closers was forced to trudge off soon after arriving, Heinrich Klaasen mis-timing his attempt to muscle Santner to the fence.
Not everything was going the Black Caps’ way – Matt Henry followed Klaasen off the field after injuring his shoulder while taking the catch – but they were one more dismissal from feeling relatively secure about their ticket to the final.
It came from an appropriate source as Ravindra completed a return catch off the bat of Aiden Markram, before Phillips chimed in with a couple to leave the Proteas in the familiar position of faltering in a semifinal.
With the two all-round options complementing Santner and Bracewell, New Zealand will now head to Dubai with a full arsenal for Sunday’s final, though Henry (5-42) was the only effective bowler as India claimed a dead-rubber group game on Sunday.
The veteran pacer returned late to the bowling crease and his fitness will be essential as the Black Caps hunt their first major limited-overs trophy in 25 years. With leaders spanning generations and stepping up at pivotal moments, there’s no time like the present.
