South Africa vs New Zealand Prediction: Kiwis the value in high-scoring showdown in Lahore

South Africa and New Zealand will contest the second of the semi-finals in Lahore on Wednesday, start time 09:00, live on Sky Sports Cricket.  

Jamie Pacheco thinks New Zealand should win this and that on a good wicket both teams should get to 250 runs, while Proteas batter Rassie van der Dussen is also worth a wage for SA top batsman honours. Check out his South Africa vs New Zealand Predictions below...

South Africa   

We've only seen the Proteas in action twice rather than three times because their game against Australia was washed out without a ball being bowled.  

But they were pretty good in both those matches. Marco Jansen had some game last time out against England, dismissing all of their Top 3 and taking three catches, two of which were extremely tough ones. Wiaan Mulder, our 9/2 pick for top bowler also took three wickets so we were paid out at half those odds as the result of a dead-heat.  In that same match, Rassie van der Dussen hit an impressive 72 and Heinrich Klassen a quickfire 64 off 56.  

Skipper Temba Bavuma missed that match with illness but should be ok for this one. The same can't necessarily be said for the skipper on the day, Aiden Markram. He injured his hamstring and is touch-and-go here, which is a bit surprising given hamstring injuries normally take at least a couple of weeks to recover from. If he's ruled out and Bavuma returns, it will likely be a straight swap between those two.   

Possible XI:  Rickleton, Bavuma, van der Dussen, Klassen, Stubbs/Markram, Miller, Jansen, Mulder, Maharaj, Rabada, Ngidi.  

New Zealand  

The Kiwis were well-beaten on Sunday in Dubai but shouldn't be too downhearted about things.  

They'd already done the hard work by winning their first two matches, they were playing at a venue they hadn't been to before and there was no real advantage to be playing either Australia or South Africa in the semis; they're of a similar standard. So, the defeat didn't hand them the harder of the two opponents.  

They also deserve credit for bowling India out for just 249. Matt Henry was superb with 5-42 and four of the other five bowlers all took wickets; only Michael Bracewell didn't.  

On the other hand, they didn't bat well. Yes, it was a tough surface, but their strike rotation was poor and there was little in terms of innovation to find the boundary when needed. Thankfully for them, they're not playing in Dubai in this one but if they do win and India do too, they'll have to go back there and hopefully learn from their mistakes.  

They should keep to the same XI that lost in Dubai unless Devon Conway comes in for Will Young.  

Possible XI: Young/Conway, Ravindra, Williamson, Mitchell, Latham, Phillips, Bracewell, Santner, Jamieson, Henry, O'Rourke 

Pitch and conditions   

We're at Lahore for this one, where first-innings scores so far this tournament have been 351, 325 and 273.  

In all three matches, a good 25 runs or so could (should?) have been added to those totals so 350 is what the side batting first will be targeting.  

There's no rain forecast so we should get a full game. And it should be high-scoring.  

South Africa vs New Zealand Odds (Please click for the full betfred.com match market)

South Africa are 4/5 favourites, implied probability 55.6%. New Zealand are evens.  

You could well argue it should be a choice affair, and you could very easily also argue that the odds should be the other way around. 

South Africa are missing two key fast bowlers in Gerard Coetzee and Anrich Nortje while the possible absence of Markram would also be a big blow, because apart from his skills as a batsman, they may have used his off spin. New Zealand are almost at full strength.  

You could say NZ have the better skipper, which could make all the difference, and that they were more impressive in their two wins than SA were.  

And sure, they had a bad day at the office on Sunday but that was in Dubai, and it was against India.  They won't have to deal with either of those factors here.  

PickyourPunt selection: New Zealand win with both teams scoring 250+ Runs @ 11/8  

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the evens on New Zealand then.  

But we're going to try and make our money stretch a bit further by taking the PickyourPunt selection of New Zealand winning with both teams scoring 250+ Runs. I'd be surprised if both teams didn't get very close to scoring 300 so we should certainly be ok with the second part of the bet.  

South Africa Top Batsman  

This could well be a wicket perfectly suited to van der Dussen, who loves hitting through the line and playing textbook shots on good wickets. He should certainly get a good wicket to bat on here.  

He'll bat in the Top 3, which is a good position for this track and is in good form after that 72 the other day. He also scored 52 in the first match.  

The possible absence of the normally reliable Markram helps his cause and all in all, he ticks plenty of boxes.