5 things to look forward to in the New Zealand-South Africa semifinal
The business end of the 2015 World Cup is here and the first semi-final of the competition sees co-hosts New Zealand taking on South Africa at Eden Park in Auckland. Both teams enter into the game after registering comfortable wins in their respective quarter-finals, but both will know that neither has ever crossed the semi-final barrier in the World Cup and have a great chance to cross that hurdle and progress through to their maiden World Cup final.It goes without saying that we have a mouth-watering game in prospect, and so let’s take a look at the 5 things that one could look forward in the match tomorrow.
#5 Can McCullum continue aggressive captaincy?
One of the key elements to New Zealands dominance in the 2015 World Cup so far has been the manner in which Brendon McCullum has led the side in this competition. The 33-year-old has kept attacking fields right throughout the innings and despite having a quality spinner in Daniel Vettori, under his disposal has opted to give go for wickets in the middle stages of the game and given his fast bowlers, the likes of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Adam Milne an extended spell to ensure that once the batting Power Play arrives in the 35thover, the opposition is on the ropes and someone like a Vettori doesnt have a lot of pressure to deal with when he comes on to bowl.
So it will be interesting to see on Tuesday, how do the South Africans tackle the threat of Boult and the rest between the 10thand the 35thover and eventually go on to either chase down a target and post a sizeable total on the board, for them to defend later on?