New Zealand demolish South Africa to reach T20 World Cup cricket final – as it happened
South Africa won every match they could afford to lose in this tournament and then lost the first one that they had to win.They were completely marmalised by New Zealand, who won the first semi-final by nine wickets.Finn Allen ripped through South Africa’s feared fast bowling attack, and hit an unbeaten hundred off just 33 balls.It was the fastest century in the history of the competition, and, as Allen said himself, the innings of his life.Only two batters have ever hit a faster ton in international T20 cricket.
South Africa’s captain, Aidan Markram, blamed the change in conditions for throwing off his team,“We’ll reflect as a group,” he said, “We’ll let the emotions settle first and foremost and once they do we’ll get back on the horse and try and get better,But we’re obviously hugely disappointed with the result, it feels like we’ve been slapped in the face,”double quotation markYeah, it was nice,We know how good South Africa are so to put on a performance like that in a crunch game is pretty pleasing.
We tried to keep them under pressure for a long time and we used more spin early on [than in the group game against South Africa].If you can take wickets throughout it’s a challenge to keep going with the bat.[On the opening partnership] It was nice to watch, I’m not gonna lie.We were very happy chasing 170 but you never know.They took it on, which was cool to see.
If you get through a Powerplay none down, it puts you in a pretty position.And then Finny just carried on.I mean, 33 balls for a hundred’s not bad.double quotation markThey bowled really well up front.The ball didn’t quite feel like it was coming on – some balls stopped, some kept low – and that made scoring really tough.
Pressure builds and you lose wickets unfortunately.And then when someone plays an innings like that against you, you won’t come out on the right side of the result too often.To get to 170 was a great effort and we felt like we had a sniff.But they got off to a flyer and from there it was really hard to pull it back.We must give credit to Finn Allen and Tim Seifert for killing the game as early as they did.
We’ll let the emotions settle and then have a discussion as a group.We expected the wicket to play really well and maybe we didn’t adapt quickly enough with the bat.We’re disappointed with the result but I’m really proud of this group of guys; they’ve played some great cricket during the tournament.double quotation mark[Is that the best you’ve ever played?] I’d say it’s pretty up there.I just wanted to get in good positions and put in a good performance for the team.
We wanted to put them on the back foot early.It’s easy for me when Tim [Seifert] starts like that – he got us off to an absolute flyer.We enjoyed it out there together.We’ll celebrate a little moment of success and then look forward to the final on Sunday.New Zealand’s opponents in the final will be India or England, who meet in the second semi-final tomorrow.
Here’s Simon Burnton’s preview of that game.New Zealand are through to their fourth World Cup final, two in ODIs and now two in T20s.Few cricket fans would begrudge them their first victory.12.5 overs: New Zealand 173-1 (Allen 100, Ravindra 13) Goodness me.
What an innings from Finn Allen and what a performance from New Zealand, who routed a South African team that had been the best in the tournament.They look utterly stunned as they try to make sense of the last hour and a half.He’s done it! He smashes Jansen over mid-off to complete victory and bring up a 33-ball hundred, the fastest at a men’s World Cup.Allen has obliterated the previous record for New Zealand’s fastest hundred, which was 46 balls.Who needs to manipulate the strike? Allen has butchered successive deliveries Jansen for 4, 4, 6 and 6 to bring the scores level.
He’s on 96 with two balls left in the over.Allen could yet make a century if New Zealand manipulate the strike: he needs 24 runs, New Zealand need 21.12th over: New Zealand 149-1 (Allen 76, Ravindra 13) After a massage and maybe some pickle juice, Allen picks up where he left off.Maharaj is clipped for four and slammed over wide mid-on for six.Allen’s numbers are outrageous: 76 from 28 balls with seven fours and six sixes.
New Zealand need 21 from eight to win.Eight overs, not eight balls.This is an almighty towelling.Finn Allen has cramp and is receiving treatment.Not sure why: he can just stand there and hit more sixes.
11th over: New Zealand 137-1 (Allen 65, Ravindra 12) Four more to Ravindra, flicked elegantly through midwicket off Bosch.There’s no sign of New Zealand slowing down or playing it safe; they’re batting as if they need to reach their target inside 15 overs.Allen reinforces the point by heaving Bosch into the crowd at cow corner.That’s his fifth six.10th over: New Zealand 124-1 (Allen 58, Ravindra 6) The new batter Rachin Ravindra gets his first boundary with a high-class drive past backward point.
Kagiso Rabada gets a consolation wicket, cutting one back to bowl Tim Seifert for 58,A brilliant knock from Seifert, whose intent at the start of the innings put South Africa straight on the back foot,9th over: New Zealand 117-0 (Seifert 58, Allen 58) Allen laps Maharaj to the fine leg boundary to move to 49,A single down the ground brings up a mighty fifty from only 19 balls, the joint fastest at this World Cup,Outrageous stuff.
A vicious pull over midwicket brings Allen six more.This is bonkers.8th over: New Zealand 103-0 (Seifert 57, Allen 45) Seifert reaches a punishing 28-ball fifty by slicing Ngidi over short third for four.That early reprieve, when Quinton de Kock wrongly called for a chance near fine leg, has hurt South Africa so much.Seifert belts another boundary to bring up the hundred partnership in 7.
5 overs.Seven.Point.Five.Overs.
Ngidi hands his head when a beautiful slower ball dips under Seifert’s bat and misses off stump by a whisker.“Close eh?” says Alistair Connor.“I knew it was not going to be close.After watching WI-India on this ground, I was delighted and surprised to see South Africa get less than 180.Easy.
”7th over: New Zealand 91-0 (Seifert 47, Allen 44) The Powerplay is over; the power play is not.Seifert makes room to belabour Keshav Maharaj’s third ball through extra cover for four.A relatively quiet over, yet New Zealand still scored seven from it.They need 79 from 78 balls and should cruise to victory.6th over: New Zealand 84-0 (Seifert 41, Allen 43) Finn Allen completes an awesome Powerplay by manhandling Corbin Bosch’s first over for 22.
He carved the first ball over backward point for six, a shot of outrageous brilliance, then hit four successive fours: a pull through wide mid-on, an edge over short third, a thump down the ground and another edge.South Africa look utterly shell-shocked.They are facing their eighth defeat in nine World Cup semi-finals.If you include the Champions Trophy it’s 13 defeats in 15 semis.Plenty will say they’ve choked but I’m not sure that’s the case.
If nothing else, the game hasn’t been close enough.5th over: New Zealand 62-0 (Seifert 41, Allen 21) South Africa started well with the ball and were unfortunate not to take at least one early wicket.But they look like they are starting to feel sorry for themselves, whether because of those near misses or the impact of losing the toss.Seifert picks a slower ball from Rabada and larrups it over long-on for six, a spectacular shot that he follows with a pull for four.New Zealand, who reached World Cup finals in 2015, 2019 and 2021, look like they are hurtling towards another.
They need 108 from 90 balls.4th over: New Zealand 48-0 (Seifert 28, Allen 20) Lungi Ngidi, the man with a million slower balls, comes into the attack.But the onslaught continues when Allen runs outside off stump to scoop six more.He has 20 from 8 balls, Seifert 28 from 16, and New Zealand are in complete control.3rd over: New Zealand 37-0 (Seifert 24, Allen 13) There’s nothing lucky about Allen’s next shot, a thumping straight six off Jansen.
South Africa think they have their first wicket when Seifert smears across the line – Aiden Markram reviews for caught behind, thinking/hoping there was a bottom edge.There wasn’t.Seifert scoops the next ball for six, then waves a hold-the-pose drive down the ground for four.Eighteen from the over.Despite some good bowling, South Africa are already under serious pressure.
2nd over: New Zealand 19-0 (Seifert 13, Allen 6) Another let-off for Seifert, who hooks Kagiso Rabada’s second ball miles in the air.De Kock charges towards fine leg, tells Brevis it’s his catch but can’t quite reach the ball as he dived forward.That looked like a much better chance for Brevis.Finn Allen steers his first ball past slip for four.It went finer than he intended so Rabada will feel unfortunate with that too – and again when Allen thumps his second delivery just short of cover.
1st over: New Zealand 11-0 (Seifert 11, Allen 0) An eventful start to the innings.Seifert drives Jansen square for four, snicks another boundary wide of slip and edges the next delivery this far short of Rickelton at short third.We’re back.And the giant left-arm quick Marco Jansen is going to bowl the first over.“This is going to be tight isn’t it,” says Ruth Purdue.
“Fair play for SA for battling through past 150,Are we going to see the old South Africa or the new world beaters? Do you think the Proteas have the best bowling lineup in the tournament?”I’d probably take India’s on paper but in this tournament SA have been the best I guess,They’re the only team going at less than eight an over with the ball,How they cope with the dew will probably decide this game,20th over: South Africa 169-6 (Jansen 55, Maharaj 1) Maharaj dabs the hat-trick ball for a single to get Jansen on strike for the last delivery of the innings
Jon Stewart on US attacks in Iran: ‘A war with no clear purpose, no end in sight’
Late-night hosts delved into the new US regime-change war in the Middle East, after Donald Trump directed the US military to bomb Iran in conjunction with Israel.Jon Stewart opened The Daily Show on Monday in a daze, after Iran state media confirmed that US and Israeli forces killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over the weekend. The host joked that, for the surprise occasion and chaos that followed, he needed to bring back “a 20-year recurring segment” titled “Mess O’Potamia”.“America, apparently, had to start an entire war to kill an 86-year-old man in ill health and not wait – I don’t know – three weeks to let saturated fat do its thing,” he joked.He then played a clip of Trump, wearing his USA hat, announcing the so-called “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran from his luxury golf course in Florida
‘My guitar was mangled – like my life!’ Goo Goo Dolls on how they made epic ballad Iris
‘I’m grateful to Taylor Swift, and others who have covered it, for introducing the song to a new generation. Three billion streams on Spotify is astonishing!’I was going through a divorce and living in a hotel in West Hollywood when my manager said Warner Brothers were seeking songs for the movie City of Angels. They already had U2, Peter Gabriel and Alanis Morissette, so I thought getting a track on there would draw attention to us. Warners showed me the film and it was like Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire. They wanted a song for the scene where the angel – played by Nicolas Cage – decides to become human to be with the woman he loves
My cultural awakening: Leonardo da Vinci made me rethink surgery – I’ve since mended more than 3,000 hearts
For one heart surgeon, seeing the Renaissance artist’s anatomical drawings gave him a natural understanding of the body that was often overlooked in modern medical scienceIf you’d asked my teenage self, growing up in a small village in Shropshire, what I wanted to do with my life, I would have talked about art and music long before I spoke of scalpel blades and operating theatres. As an 18-year-old, I intended to go to art school, until my mother sat me down and told me rather bluntly that being an artist wouldn’t earn me much money. As she spoke, a surgical documentary flickered across the screen of the black-and-white television in our living room. I told her, half joking, that that was what I’d do instead. Which is how I ended up repeating my A-levels and fighting my way into medical school, where I qualified in 1975
The Guide #232: From documentary shock to Bafta acclaim – how the screen shaped our understanding of Tourette’s
The wildfire surrounding last week’s Bafta ceremony – where Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur at actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo, and the BBC aired the moment – continues to rage. Criticisms have been levelled at, and investigations opened by, the Beeb and Bafta; hundreds of news stories and comment pieces have been devoted to the incident (if you read anything, make sure it’s this clear-eyed piece from Jason Okundaye, who was at the ceremony); and the climate on social media has been toxic, with much of the ire directed at Davidson himself. It’s an ire that is based on a complete misunderstanding of coprolalia, the form of Tourette syndrome (TS) that Davidson has, which results in the unintended and completely involuntary utterance of offensive or inappropriate remarks.There’s an unhappy irony at play here because Davidson, arguably more than any other person in Britain, has been responsible for raising awareness of TS. There’s an unfortunate symmetry, too, to the fact that the incident was shown on primetime BBC, because that was where Davidson was first brought to national attention as the subject of the landmark 1989 documentary John’s Not Mad
From The Testament of Ann Lee to Gorillaz: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Amanda Seyfried is Shaker all over in a wild period drama, while Damon Albarn and his cartoon cohort return with a polyglot offeringThe Testament of Ann LeeOut now In Mona Fastvold’s critically acclaimed drama, Amanda Seyfried shakes things up as the founder of the restorationist Christian sect the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. More commonly known as the Shakers, the egalitarian ecstatic worship group coalesced round the visionary female leader in the 18th century.Scream 7Out now The Kevin Williamson-scripted Scream films (1, 2, 4) are probably the best in the franchise, and this time he not only writes but directs the antics of Ghostface et al. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard and Courteney Cox all make appearances, regardless of whether you thought their characters were dead or not.SirâtOut now In the deserts of southern Morocco, a man searches for his missing daughter, enlisting the help of a group of partygoers who tell of a rave deep in the desert where perhaps she can be found
Pulp have the last word in Adelaide festival saga with triumphant opening gig
Britpop rockers wow crowd and say all voices are ‘important’ in wake of Randa Abdel-Fattah controversyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast“All voices are important,” the Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker told an adoring crowd in Adelaide on Friday. “All voices should be heard.”Message received. At one point Pulp had pulled out of the opening gig at the Adelaide festival over the Adelaide writers’ week (AWW) furore.But they turned up, they wowed the 10,000-strong crowd, and while Cocker didn’t explicitly say his comment was a reference to the brouhaha around AWW, it was pretty clear
Union tries to seize control of works council at Tesla’s German factory
Europe’s next-generation fighter jet project may collapse if row continues, says warplane maker
Google faces lawsuit after Gemini chatbot allegedly instructed man to kill himself
X to ban users from earning revenue if they post unlabelled AI-generated war videos
Nvidia and UK Wealth Fund invest in British autonomous driving startup Oxa
What was really behind Jack Dorsey laying off nearly half of Block’s staff?