"We're fortunate enough" - Kiwi wicketkeeper's interesting take ahead of SA vs NZ 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal showdown in Lahore

New Zealand’s Tom Latham has backed the Kiwis to deliver against South Africa in the 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday, March 5. The wicketkeeper-batter said the team will utilize their experience of playing against the Proteas in a recently concluded tri-series in Pakistan. The BlackCaps beat South Africa by six wickets in Lahore before defeating the Men in Green by five wickets in the final held in Karachi last month.

In the Champions Trophy, the Kiwis won their first two games against Pakistan and Bangladesh by 60 runs and five wickets in Karachi and Rawalpindi, respectively. The Mitchell Santner-led side, however, lost to India by 44 runs in their last group-stage match in Dubai, giving up the winning momentum ahead of the key semifinal clash.

Tom Latham said in a press conference (via Mid-Day):

“We're fortunate enough we had a tri-series in Pakistan and against South Africa. So, we've got a chance to look back on those experiences and give it our best in a semifinal, which is pretty cool."

“The (South Africa) team that we played potentially will be slightly different, they had a lot of guys that weren't in that side. They were still playing in their SAT20 back in South Africa, so will be slightly different. But I guess from our point of view, we'll lean back on those experiences of Lahore in playing against South Africa,” he added.

---

“It's obviously going to be a reasonably quick turnaround” – Tom Latham backs New Zealand to bounce back strongly against South Africa in Champions Trophy semifinal clash

Tom Latham further backed New Zealand to bounce back sharply in the Champions Trophy semifinal against South Africa after losing to India. The 32-year-old said in the same interaction:

“So yeah, we'll look to prep as best we can. We'll do everything that we do leading up to a game. It's obviously going to be a reasonably quick turnaround, but it is what it is. And, we'll be looking forward to the challenge of a semifinal.”

Latham further shed light on the challenges of batting in Pakistan and the role of dew in the second innings. He concluded:

“I think if you look at the surfaces that we've played in Pakistan, they've obviously been on the slower side, potentially haven't spun as much as we've seen here in Dubai, but things or conditions can change a little bit from the daytime to the nighttime.

“We've seen throughout the games in Pakistan that towards the back end of the game - a little bit of juice settles in and sometimes can be a little bit easier. A little bit nicer to bat on potentially.”

On the batting front, Latham returned with scores of 118*, 55 and 14 in his first three Champions Trophy 2025 outings. The southpaw is key to New Zealand's chances of reaching the summit clash.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma's India will play Steve Smith-led Australia in the first Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal in Dubai on Tuesday, March 4.