South Africa vs New Zealand: World Cup records

• The two teams have played 5 matches against each other in ICC Cricket World Cups.  South Africa has won two while New Zealand has managed to win 3 matches.
• The two teams first met in 1992 ICC Cricket World Cup Group match in which South African team were restricted to 190 runs in 50 overs.  New Zealand easily won that match by 7 wickets.
• In world cup matches of 1996 and 1999, South Africa won matches against New Zealand cricket team convincingly due to their superior bowling and batting. But since 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup, Kiwis have been on the upper hand.
• Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa and Stephen Fleming of New Zealand scored centuries in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup Super-Eight match, the match was eventually won by New Zealand.
• There haven’t been any notable bowling performances by both sides. This is more evident from the fact that neither of the two teams have been bowled out by each other in world cup matches.
• AB de Villiers, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Jacob Oram, James Franklin, Robin Peterson and Scott Styris are the veteran players from 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Quarter final Analysis: South Africa vs New Zealand cricket teams in 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup

World Cup win/loss record of South Africa vs New Zealand:

Total matches played: 5

• South Africa cricket team won: 2
• New Zealand cricket team won: 3

One day international win/loss record of South Africa cricket team against New Zealand:

Total matches played: 51

• South Africa cricket team won: 30
• New Zealand cricket team won: 17
• No result: 4

The 3^rd Quarter-final of 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup will played between South Africa cricket team and New Zealand cricket team at Dhaka on March 25, 2011. South Africa topped Group B with winning 4 matches and losing just 1 against England. New Zealand remained on fourth position in Group A after being defeated by Australia and Sri Lanka. Despite these defeats New Zealand managed to win against Pakistan convincingly. Following are the main strength and weakness of these teams.

Batting Strength and Weakness:

South Africa cricket team has one of the best top-order batting line-up in this world cup. Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers; they all have been performing well with the bat. But the problem for South Africa is their weak middle-order which consists of players who are new to top cricket. There are more concerns in the New Zealand squad because of their overall weak batting line up. The New Zealand cricket team’s batting mainly rely on players like Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor, if these don’t fire then New Zealand will find itself in deep trouble. New Zealand has got pinch hitters like James Franklin and Jacob Oram who can change the course of match in few overs.

Bowling Strength and Weakness:

Bowling can be considered as the main strength of South African cricket team. This can be evaluated from the fact that in group round South Africa has bowled out its opposition in all matches. South Africa has one of the best line up of fast bowlers. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel have been able to destroy batting line up of all major teams. In the spinner’s department, South Africa has the option of Imran Tahir, Johan Botha and Robin Peterson; all three spinners have performed well in the current world cup. Robin Peterson of South Africa cricket team is the 2^nd highest wicket-taker of this tournament. On the other hand, New Zealand has an average bowling attack; Tim Southee, Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori are the main striker bowlers for New Zealand cricket team.

Conclusion:

Both teams are highly capable, both have high talent and recourses. South Africa cricket team is famous for choking in key matches while New Zealand has also the tendency of losing knockout matches in major tournaments. So, let’ see what happens in the match.

 

World Cup records: England vs South Africa cricket teams

• These two teams have played 5 matches against each other. England won 2 while South Africa has won 3 matches.
• In 1992 ICC Cricket World Cup, English cricket team dominated South Africa but since 1996Wills World Cup South African cricket team has been defeating England convincingly.
• The two teams met in the semi-final of 1992 World cup which South Africa lost due to the controversial ‘rain-rule’ of that time.
• South Africa has bowled out England in the last three matches played between the two countries in a world cup. South African cricket team has also managed to restrict England under 200 in these matches.
• South African bowlers Allan Donald and Andrew Hall have taken key wickets of English batsmen. Andrew Hall picked up 5/18 in 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.
• Players from neither countries have been able to score a century against each other in a world cup. The highest individual score is 89 by Graeme Smith of South Africa.
• Jacques Kallis of South African cricket team completed his 9000^th ODI run in a world cup match against England in 2007.
• England cricket team has not played any match against South African cricket team in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup.

 

Famous cricket players of South Africa: Graeme Smith

A tall, well structured, left-handed opener, Graeme Smith was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1981. Replacing the legendary Gary Kirsten at the top of the order of South African cricket team was a difficult job but the cricketing experts feel that Smith has done good job of it and commands respect globally as one of the most solid openers in the game today.

Having made his debut against Australia back in 2002, Graeme Smith has represented his national side in a 165 matches to date in which he has scored 6097 runs at a very good average of 39.84. In this journey, he has picked up 8 centuries and 43 fifties on the way. Graeme Smith enjoys a top score of 141 and is considered to have the safest pair of hands on the cricketing circuit as he has 89 catches to his name as well.

After being handed over the daunting task of captaining the South African side at the young age of 22, a few would raise questions at the way Graeme Smith has led his team to a well gelled unit and a winning concern. Although his side never made it to the finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup as expected, the tournament itself was a fairly decent one for him personally. He scored 4 fifties in the first four matches that he played in the tournament, something which no other captain has achieved thus far.

With the 2011 Cricket World Cup being his last outing as the captain of his national side, Graeme Smith would like to ensure that he goes out all guns blazing and leads his side from the front to win a tournament that has eluded them for years now.

 

Famous cricket players of South African cricket team: Johan Botha

Johan Botha is an off-spinner and a lower order batsman who represents South African cricket team. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1982 and is known for his competitive nature and the fact that he is a team player.

Johan Botha made his ODI debut against Indian cricket team back in 2005 and has thus far represented his country in 69 ODIs. In these matches Botha has to his name 65 wickets which he got a relatively high average of 40.29 and with his best bowling figures being 4/19 thus far.

Through out his short career, Johan Botha has been under the spot light for more wrong reasons than right. He was involved in allegations where he had a suspect action right after his debut in 2005 in Australia and was left out until an expert judged his action. Then again in 2009 questions were raised over the way he bowled his ‘doosra’ which did not fall within the defined bowling perimeters by the ICC. In May 2009 his ‘doosra’ was termed as illegal and he would not be allowed to ball this delivery again. When Graeme Smith hangs up his boots after the 2011, the ODI captaincy is likely to be handed to Johan Botha whose leadership skills are well respected within the South African Squad.

Botha has been rated highly by his captain Graeme Smith and thus even with mediocre performances he continues to be part of a squad that is filled with top notch performers. Hopefully during the 2011 cricket World Cup he would produce a few performances that would help his side in achieving their first world cup success.

 

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