New Zealand Crush South Africa to Storm into Champions Trophy Final
Wow, what a game! New Zealand have absolutely dominated South Africa to book their place in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final with a commanding 50-run victory. This was a performance of pure class, a textbook example of how to build an innings and then defend it with smart bowling.
Batting first in Lahore, the Black Caps set a massive total of 362 for 6 in their 50 overs, thanks to two stunning centuries from Rachin Ravindra (108 off 101 balls) and Kane Williamson (102 off 94 balls) . These two were just outstanding, crafting a brilliant 164-run partnership for the second wicket. They controlled the tempo beautifully, picking their moments to accelerate, and once they were gone, New Zealand didn’t take their foot off the gas.
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The late fireworks came from Daryl Mitchell (49 off 37) and * Glenn Phillips (49 off 27)**, who smashed 110 runs in the last 10 overs to push the score past the 360-mark. It was always going to be a tough chase for South Africa, but on such a good batting track, they had a chance—at least for the first 20 overs.
South Africa’s reply started positively, with Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen putting on 105 runs for the second wicket . But once Mitchell Santner struck , dismissing both of them in quick succession, the momentum shifted completely. Santner was absolutely clinical, finishing with 3 for 43 , and his spell completely broke South Africa’s chase.
From there, wickets kept tumbling. Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, and others fell cheaply, leaving only David Miller (100 off 67 balls) * to put up a fight. He smashed a century off the final ball of the innings, but by then, the match was long gone. South Africa ended at 312 for 9 , falling 50 runs short.
With this win, New Zealand now head to Dubai for the final against India on March 9 , a rematch of some classic ICC knockout battles. Can they finally lift their second ICC white-ball trophy after 25 long years? We’ll find out soon!
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