Matt Henry is doubtful for the South Africa vs New Zealand semi-final 1 match, which is scheduled to take place at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 4. During the pre-match press conference, when captain Mitchell Santner was talking to the media, he revealed that the fast bowler has not joined the team yet.
The Kiwi pacer had to return home for the birth of his child. He is expected to join the team on the night of March 3 and the New Zealand match is on March 4 at 7 pm. Matt Henry will join the team just a few hours before the match.
New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry is uncertain about the semi-final match against South Africa on March 4.
During the press conference in Kolkata, Mitchell Santner told that the fast bowler is yet to enter the Indian airspace. The team management has not yet taken a final decision on whether Henry should be played against South Africa or not. Santner said that the fast bowler is in their equation, but the final decision will be taken tomorrow after assessing the health conditions of the bowler on the match day.
“Matt is up in the air at the moment; he’s coming off tonight, so I guess we’ll see how he comes up – it’s obviously a long way from here, New Zealand. But he’ll obviously have a bit of a run in the morning, see if he’s ready to go. So yeah, hopefully he’s good to go”, the New Zealand captain said in the pre-match press conference.
Matt Henry was in good form in T20 World Cup 2026
The 34-year-old fast bowler was in good form for the New Zealand cricket team before returning home. Against Sri Lanka, on 25 February, during the Super 8 stage, Matt Henry wreaked havoc on the Lankan batting order, taking 2 wickets in 2 overs, including a maiden over, and conceding only 3 runs.
In the next match, against England, on 27 February, the right-arm fast bowler ended his 2.3-over bowling spell with 1/19 by taking the wicket of Phil Salt.
In this tournament, New Zealand faced South Africa on 14 February at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. South Africa, the so far undefeated team in the T20 World Cup 2026, won the match by 7 wickets with 17 balls remaining.
South African fast bowler Marco Johnson took charge of New Zealand’s batting order.
South African fast bowler Marco Johnson almost single-handedly took down the opposition’s top order. New Zealand openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen felt inferior to Marco Johnson.
Kiwi batting number three Rachin Ravindra and middle-order batsman Glenn Phillips were dismissed by the same fast bowler. Batting first, New Zealand made a competitive score of 175 runs at the loss of 7 wickets.
In the second innings, when New Zealand were making every effort to save the total, Matt Henry proved costly, conceding 38 runs in 4 overs without taking any wicket. Jacob Duffy proved to be the most expensive bowler of the night for the Blackcaps as he gave away a total of 50 runs in his 3-over spell.
Read more: South Africa Playing XI vs New Zealand Playing XI – 1st Semifinal | ICC T20 World Cup 2026
