Proteas nerves 'are a little bit less' ahead of Champions Trophy semi against the Black Caps

The Springboks and the All Blacks play each other every year at least twice. Sometimes even three times if it's a Rugby World Cup year.

The Proteas and the New Zealand cricket team not so much. In fact, Heinrich Klaasen, who has played 59 ODI’s, has only faced the Black Caps once before in a 50-overs contest. 

And he wasn’t even required to do much on that occasion as Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen both struck sublime centuries to steer the Proteas to a mammoth 190-run victory at the last World Cup back in 2023. 

It would be safe to assume that Klaasen will most likely have more on his plate when the Proteas face the Black Caps in Wednesday’s ICC Champions Trophy semi-final in Lahore.

The Kiwis were unbeaten prior to losing their last group match against India in Dubai, having humbled hosts Pakistan in the tournament opener, before making light work of a run chase against Bangladesh.

The New Zealand attack, in particular, looks well-balanced with spearhead Matt Henry and new-ball partner Will O’Rourke bowling well with the new ball in the Powerplay. They are complimented by captain Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin aided by the all-round skills of Michael Bracewell. 

Klaasen feels, though, that playing in the various T20 Leagues around the world has equipped him to deal with the Black Caps attack despite his lack of gametime against the Kiwis. 

“I think with leagues these days; you play against all of these (players). “You spend time with them in different change rooms and there's incredible video footage out there as well,” he said. 

“So, they're playing good cricket, and we will do enough homework and we've got enough resources and guys that actually played a lot of cricket against them. So yeah, we've got enough knowledge about them to know what they're going to bring.”

Klaasen will certainly, though, be called into the bowlers’ meetings for his input on New Zealand superstar Kane Williamson. The pair shared a dressingroom for the past month playing together for Durban’s Super Giants in the Betway SA20 where Klaasen picked up a few aspects that could potentially help the bowling unit. 

“I think his patience and the way he reads the game is incredible and then he's doing the basics so well that it's difficult to have a weakness against him,” Klaasen said of Williamson. 

“His knowledge of the game and the way he plays situations is also just incredible and obviously the guy's got incredible hands and heaps of talent. That's why he's one of the world's best.”

The Kiwis are serial semifinalists at ICC tournaments, but the Proteas are also starting to familiarize themselves with knockout matches at major tournaments. 

They have reached both the World Cup and T20 World Cup semifinals and now also the Champions Trophy semi over the past 18 months. They also broke the semifinal curse by beating Afghanistan in Trinidad last year to qualify for a first-ever T20 World Cup final.

Klaasen feels the familiarity of the occasion is certainly working in the Proteas’ favour. 

“Yeah, I think the nerves are a little bit less because we have a little bit more experience in the semi-final department now,” he said. “We're playing good cricket and since I've been around from, what's it, 2018, let's say just before COVID, we played some incredible cricket.

“And even the team before I was involved played incredible cricket in the ICC events. We just had some bad luck here and there. And obviously one or two games didn't go away, but we've been playing good cricket.

“And I think that's just the rewards that we've been feeding now. The boys are holding a little bit more composure in the bigger moments in the game. So hopefully we can get into another final.

“We've got the experience now and the big boys need to step up on Wednesday.”