South Africa defeat goes against the grain even if we've been here before

It felt like nothing could go wrong for South Africa, then everything went wrong, all at once

Firdose Moonda

Published: Mar 4, 2026, 9:15 PM (7 hrs ago)

3:26

Could SA have batted differently?

It can be difficult to make sense of a defeat that is so against the grain it leaves even those involved wondering what happened. But we have to try.

South Africa have lost another knockout, not for lack of trying (it never is) but this time for lack of application, and will be livid with themselves for another blow-out when it mattered most. Especially because, on reputation, everything was stacked for South Africa: New Zealand had never beaten them in a T20 World Cup game and South Africa were on an unbeaten run of seven straight wins. It just so happened that on the day, everything did get stacked against them.

The problems started when South Africa lost the toss. Those around the players at the time Mitchell Santner announced he would put them in to bat said they saw bemused expressions and faces drop as their reality sunk in. South Africa had already decided it was easier to chase, based on what they experienced at optional training on Tuesday evening. Feedback from that was that batting second would be far easier, given the dew and the ease with which the ball comes onto the bat later in the game. The evidence of the match proved the point, but it is not the only reason South Africa were outplayed.

Their approach to setting a total appeared indecisive and in complete contrast to the way they had batted in the competition before this game. Though their previous bat-first matches were all in Ahmedabad, even when they lost an early wicket (one against Afghanistan and three against India), they were able to recover by absorbing pressure and then transferring it back to the opposition. Here, they imploded.

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New Zealand played the perfect match-up when they gave their offspinner, Cole McConchie, the new ball against Quinton de Kock, who got four when he reached for the second ball he faced and then was caught off the next one. De Kock's aggression was premeditated but coach Shukri Conrad put that down to the way this format works. "Does he stand there and just see him off," Conrad asked. "He's got to make a play at some stage, you know."

You could argue that Ryan Rickelton did that too early, off the first ball he faced, when he cut McConchie to short third. Batting coach Ashwell Prince explained it as the batters "playing instinctively" throughout the tournament and being encouraged to keep doing that even though he saw the argument that Rickelton "should give himself a little bit more time".

From there, there was no proper recovery until Marco Jansen's 30-ball 55 which Prince said spoke as much to conditions as to New Zealand plans. "It felt really difficult to hit a four, a boundary four on the ground, meaning the ball was not coming on enough and you can't stroke through the ball. To hit a boundary, you felt that we had to go in the air and every time we went in the air, we got one off the toe or on the splice of the bat."

In the perfect storm of not being able to time the ball through the gaps and mis-hitting in the air, South Africa went 20 balls without a boundary between the tenth and the 13th overs and lost David Miller and Dewald Brevis in that time. Then, they couldn't find the rope for another 17 balls between the 14th and 17th as momentum was consistently stalled.

By the time they got to the final over, they were 163 for 6, and could have pushed for 180-plus but Jansen was off strike second ball, and two wickets fell at the other end. "We were particularly poor in the way we managed that last over," Conrad said. "Marco was flaying it from the one side but stood there watching other guys get out. All in all, not very good."

1:30

Conrad: 'New Zealand's calibre of bowling was exceptional'

That applies with the ball too. New Zealand had some luck early in the chase when one edge from Tim Seifert went between slip and short third, another didn't carry, and then a top-edge fell safe as de Kock ran back to take a catch that he could have left for Brevis at fine leg. And then they took control. South Africa bowled too short, best illustrated by Corbin Bosch's first over going for 22 runs, and the match was lost before the powerplay was out.

Should South Africa have considered spin in the form of Keshav Maharaj earlier? "We always fancied Marco with a new ball, the swinging ball," Conrad said. "In hindsight, we can ask a lot of questions, but the first couple of overs, it looked as if KG [Kagiso Rabada] and Marco troubled them to a certain degree. And then the floodgates opened after that."

How a South African attack that adapted so well to changing conditions - albeit mostly at one venue with different pitches - were so one-dimensional is puzzling but their task was too big anyway. In the end, South Africa went from running hot to being absolutely torched by New Zealand and instead of sulk, they fell over themselves to praise the opposition.

Gracious as South Africa were in defeat, they won't be able to ignore the noise that will come with another nightmare end to a tournament where things seemed to be going so well. They have had this before, probably most notably in 1999, but also as recently as the T20 World Cup in 2024, where they went eight games unbeaten only to lose the final to India. So it's not new but it is painful.

2:38

Rapid-fire review: How big a part did the pitch play?

Failing to get over the (quarter- or semi-) final hurdle is a peculiar kind of South Africanism that comes with all kinds of labels. Chokers is the most used one and so, the easiest one to reach for when things go wrong. When looked at in isolation, this semi-final performance was not close to being good enough to be called a choke and Conrad did not hold back in saying so. He also used some other choice words to describe it.

In the context of the tournament as a whole, some may describe it as the ultimate choke. South Africa were so good over the group and Super Eight stage that they were being spoken about as potential champions long before the knockouts. They had a perfect run, even in the nail-biter against Afghanistan. Being taken to a double Super Over in a match they should have won in regular time showed both that South Africa were fallible and that they could hold their nerve under pressure. The manner in which they dominated every other opposition, including this one earlier, rightly earned them the favourites tag going into the semi-finals.

With Australia out of the way from much earlier in the group stage and India and England on the other side of the draw, the path to the final and a shot at redemption after what happened in 2024 was paved with hope and lit by destiny. People had stopped whispering that perhaps this could be South Africa's time. They were saying out loud on group chats and around the grounds.

Over the last few weeks, it felt like nothing could go wrong and then everything went wrong, all at once.

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's correspondent for South Africa and women's cricket

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