ICC World Cup 2015: New Zealand vs South Africa - Player vs Player stats

The semi-final between New Zealand and South Africa is a tough draw without a clear favourite

For the first time in World Cup history, two teams that have never made it to the finals are going to cross swords in a semi-final on Tuesday at Auckland. While New Zealand have let slip 6 costly tickets to a World Cup final so far, South Africa, for their part, have squandered three chances. As a matter of fact, South Africa won their first knockout fixture in a World Cup only last week in a quarter-final match against Sri Lanka.

If Martin Guptill’s imperialistic knock of 237* in the quarter-finals is any indication of how strong the Kiwis are this World Cup, the Proteas aren’t far behind as they eased past Sri Lanka in imperative fashion.

As for South Africa, five of their top batsmen have registered at least one ton in this tournament and their bowling has never gone haywire. Especially, the way their speedsters troubled the Lankan line-up in the quarters passes off as a great sign of encouragement for them.

On the other hand, New Zealand have seen their batsmen exhibit enough courage by pulling off a thrilling win against Australia and chasing down a threatening target against Bangladesh. However, it is their bowling that has given them the necessary fuel to storm into the last four stage of the grandeur tournament.

Here, we statistically compare the expected playing XIs of both the sides and attempt to judge which team will start the contest as favorites. The winner between each duo has been judged by ODI career stats and his current form.

PLAYER vs PLAYER COMPARISON

New Zealand	South Africa	Who’s better?
Martin Guptill	Hashim Amla	SA
Runs - 3690, Avg - 40.10, SR - 83.08	Runs - 5682, Avg - 55.70, SR - 89.96
Brendon McCullum	Quinton de Kock	Equal
Runs - 5749, Avg - 30.57, SR - 93.95	Runs - 1617, Avg - 39.33, SR - 87.83
Kane Williamson	Faf du Plessis	NZ
Runs - 2668, Avg - 46.0, SR - 82.91	Runs - 2261, Avg - 35.88, SR - 84.71
Ross Taylor	Rilee Rossouw	NZ
Runs - 5064, Avg - 41.50, SR - 81.75	Runs - 587, Avg - 34.52, SR - 108.30
Grant Elliott	AB de Villiers	SA
Runs - 1442, Avg - 32.77, SR - 76.37	Runs - 7876, Avg - 53.21, SR - 98.87
Corey Anderson	David Miller	NZ
Runs - 860, Avg - 35.83, SR - 125.54	Runs - 1588, Avg - 37.80, SR - 100.63
Luke Ronchi	JP Duminy	SA
Runs - 977, Avg - 32.56, SR - 123.98	Runs - 3800, Avg - 39.58, SR - 83.94
Daniel Vettori	Imran Tahir	Equal
Wickets - 305, Avg - 31.48, ECO - 4.12	Wickets - 70, Avg - 19.94, ECO - 4.35
Tim Southee	Dale Steyn	SA
Wickets - 131, Avg - 30.10, ECO - 5.23	Wickets - 161, Avg - 25.26, ECO - 4.77
Matt Henry	Kyle Abbott	NZ
Wickets - 21, Avg - 15.42, ECO - 4.93	Wickets - 16, Avg - 32.62, ECO - 4.75
Trent Boult	Morne Morkel	Equal
Wickets - 37, Avg - 24.51, ECO - 4.54	Wickets - 166, Avg - 24.06, ECO - 4.89
New Zealand 4 – South Africa 4

NOTE: The lineups mentioned above are predicted teams and might not actually be the XIs that take to the field tomorrow.

Summary

With a nine-match indefatigable winning streak, the New Zealanders are coming into this semi-final as a force to reckon with. The South Africans, on the other hand, may have lost two big games in the preliminary round but have upped the ante by winning their first-ever knockout match in the tournament’s history.

Though the pre-tournament favourites tag and home atmosphere may tilt the comparison needle slightly towards the Kiwis; team-wise, both are giving us a tough draw to pick a favourite for Tuesday. The inexperience of not winning a World Cup semi-final seems to be the only common factor for both the teams. Whatever be it, the final at the MCG on the 29th of March is set to have one contender who will be a first timer by all means.