South Africa is ranked second in the points standings, while New Zealand is ranked fourth.
Sophie Devine elected to bat in Mignon du Preez’s 150th ODI for South Africa, on the same field as New Zealand beat India earlier in the competition. New Zealand has two wins from four games in the competition so far, but Devine refused to label the encounter as a must-win. After three matches in the competition, South Africa is unbeaten and in second place on the points table.
Despite their strong start, South Africa has yet to hit more than 240 runs in the tournament, but they believe their batting will improve as the tournament develops. “We’ve scored 10 runs more in every match,” captain Sune Luus stated. All eyes will be on du Preez, who is coming off a losing streak. South Africa will rely on her expertise in the chase, as she has not scored more than 20 runs in seven ODIs this year and has only scored 26 runs at the World Cup so far.
Their unchanged XI will play at Seddon Park on what appears to be an excellent deck before they get there. After Shabnim Ismail had a toe injury in Monday’s match against England, he was declared fit, and South Africa continued to use a four-seam, two-spin approach. New Zealand made one change to the team that lost against Australia, replacing Hayley Jensen with Brooke Halliday in order to lengthen their lineup slightly.
Expect plenty of runs on a surface that has proven to be reliable so far. Despite the fact that Bangladesh held Pakistan to a score of 234 in the most recent match played at this venue, scores have historically been high. Both Australia and India scored over 300 in their first innings.
South Africa qualified for the World Cup by defeating New Zealand in an ODI series, and they have won the last three matches between the two sides, but New Zealand has the overall advantage. Since February 1999, they have won 11 of the 16 completed matches the teams have played against each other.
New Zealand 1 Suzie Bates, 2 Sophie Devine (capt), 3 Amelia Kerr, 4 Amy Satthertwaite, 5 Maddy Green, 6 Frances Mackay, 7 Katey Martin (wk), 8 Brooke Halliday, 9 Hannah Rowe, 10 Lea Tahuhu, 11 Jess Kerr
South Africa 1 Laura Wolvaardt, 2 Lizelle Lee, 3 Tazmin Brits, 4 Sune Luus (capt), 5 Mignon du Preez, 6 Marizanne Kapp, 7 Chloe Tryon, 8 Trisha Chetty (wk), 9 Shabnim Ismail, 10 Masabata Klaas, 11 Ayabonga Khaka