Preview: New Zealand v South Africa

On paper this looks a mismatch, South Africa’s collection of heavyweights against a fairly ordinary New Zealand side, but cricket is often more complex than that.

South Africa have surprised with the quality of their spin bowling, especially the revelation that is Robin Peterson, and they have also been more tactically flexible than has been the case in recent times, but some doubts still remain. They have arguably the best balanced bowling attack in the tournament and match winning batsmen in Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB De Villiers, but all of the mental frailties of old were on display in the defeat to England and doubts persist as to their ability to cope with pressure.

These doubts will have been alleviated somewhat by their stirring win over India, particularly in the way that they fought back in each innings, and they may feel that they have got their one flaky performance out of their system, but until they win the World Cup there will be doubts about their ability to deal with the pressure of the knockout environment and of being favourites.

That said, I still fancy them against New Zealand who have fluctuated between the brilliance with which they dispatched Pakistan and the rather insipid defeat to Australia. In Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and, to a certain extent, Jesse Ryder they have batsmen who can score quickly, with a decent quota of lower order hitters, and Tim Southee in particular has impressed with the ball. The expected return of Daniel Vettori will improve the attack, but they will be sweating on the fitness of Kyle Mills, who looked to be hitting a rich vein of form when he was injured. For all that, though, this looks the easiest quarter-final to predict.

The Verdict: South Africa to win comfortably.