A sensational opening partnership of 117 in just nine overs between Tim Seifert (58 from 33 balls) and Finn Allen saw New Zealand romp to an overwhelming 9-wicket victory in their T20 World Cup semifinal match against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Allen (100*) struck the winning runs and completed an astonishing century from just 33 balls with ten fours and eight sixes, the fastest in T20 World Cup history, after Marco Jansen had struck a defiant 55* from 30 balls to help South Africa recover from 77-5 to reach a modest 169-8 after being asked to bat first.
But Jansen conceded an eye-watering 53 runs from just 2.5 overs with Corbin Bosch leaking an equally embarrassing 35 from just two overs as Allen cut loose after a Power Play which yielded 84 runs.
New Zealand book their place in Sunday's #T20WorldCup final 🇳🇿⏭️#SSCricket pic.twitter.com/8VHsOv00un
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 4, 2026
Offspinner Cole McConchie (1-0-9-2) claimed two wickets in his solitary over, the second of the innings, to put the early skids under the Proteas' innings with fellow spinners Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner also playing important roles.
Quinton de Kock (10) whipped Matt Henry for a legside six in the first over but then spliced a pull shot against McConchie to mid on and his replacement, Ryan Rickelton, cut the next delivery straight to backward point.
Captain Aiden Markram and Dewald Brevis took 17 off the fifth over bowled by Jimmy Neesham with Markram punching a six over long on and Brevis cover-driving a pair of fours as the Proteas recovered to 48-2 in the Power Play.
But the wheels quickly fell off with Markram (18 from 20 balls) mistiming a drive to long on and David Miller (6) doing likewise with left-armer Ravindra (4-0-29-2) the successful bowler on both occasions.
Daryl Mitchell's catch to dismiss Aiden Markram 👀
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 4, 2026
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Brevis looked in sweet form with enormous sixes against Ravindra and Santner (4-0-25-0) but was caught in two minds against Neesham (3-0-42-1) and checked a drive to extra cover to depart for 34 from 27 balls and leave the innings in some disarray at 77-5.
Tristan Stubbs had just 13 from 18 balls until pulling Henry for his first boundary but accelerated to reach 29 from 24 balls before Ferguson bowled him from around the wicket in the 19th over.
The excellent Henry (2-34) removed Corbin Bosch (2) and Kagiso Rabada with consecutive deliveries in the final over but Jansen pulled and drove five sixes, including two in the penultimate over, to reach 50 from just 28 balls to give South Africa a fighting chance of reaching the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Marco Jansen 🙌
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) March 4, 2026
He steps up with a half-century in South Africa's semi-final 😤🇿🇦
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NEW ZEALAND'S DAY
New Zealand, however, made a mockery of the chase.
Seifert audaciously lapped Jansen for six in the third over, which cost 18, and Allen smashed Bosch’s first delivery of the sixth over backward point and hit the next three to the boundary to take 22 off the over and all-but end the contest.
South Africa had a perfect 7-0 record in the tournament while the Black Caps had lost by four-wickets and seven-wickets to England and South Africa respectively and only qualified for the last four ahead of Pakistan on net run-rate.
But ‘anything can happen on the day’ in T20 cricket and it was emphatically New Zealand’s day.
Markram paid rich credit to Allen – “when you are on the receiving end of an innings like that you don’t often come out with the right result.”
A T20 batting masterclass from Finn Allen! ⚡️
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 4, 2026
The fastest ever ICC Men’s T20 World Cup century (100* off 33) and the semi-final Player of the Match 🫡#T20WorldCup #NZvSA | 📸 = ICC/Getty pic.twitter.com/XT2yO7tHML
Inevitably questions will be asked about South Africa’s temperament in ICC knockout matches but the truth, this time, is simply that New Zealand bowled superbly – especially in the first half of South Africa’s innings – and Allen delivered the innings of a lifetime eclipsing Chris Gayle’s T20 World Cup record century (47 balls) by a brutal 14 balls.
New Zealand will now face the winner of the second semifinal between India and England, on Thursday, in Sunday’s final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram (captain), Quinton de Kock (wkt), Ryan Rickelton, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Kagido Rabada, Lungi Ngidi.
NEW ZEALAND: Tim Seifert (wkt), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner (captain), Cole McConchie, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson