Black Caps coach hits the books ahead of T20 World Cup semifinal versus South Africa
Tuesday, 3 March 2026
ANALYSIS: Will a little light reading by coach Rob Walter enable the Black Caps to pounce on the Proteas?
Walter’s charges will face his former white-ball side in the T20 World Cup semifinal on Thursday morning (NZ time), while tournament favourites India will meet England in the other last-four match the following day.
New Zealand’s semifinal spot was confirmed on Sunday when they finished second in Group Two of the Super Eights on Net Run-Rate ahead of Pakistan, who at times threatened to inflict the heavy defeat on Sri Lanka they required to jump over the Black Caps.
Walter said he watched Pakistan’s innings, then decided reading was better for his mental health, later checking his phone for the news he wanted to see.
The book that kept his attention was Ivan Cleary’s ‘Not Everything Counts … But Everything Matters’, written after the NRL coach had led the Penrith Panthers to a fourth consecutive title.
The retailer’s blurb tells us Cleary shows ‘how connection and courage teach us to win’ - something Walter will aim to replicate in Kolkata against the unbeaten Proteas.
'It is a great privilege to be part of the top four teams in the world in the T20 format,' Walter said after Pakistan fell short.
'I think it's just a great representation of the work that the boys have put in. We've had a few days where our cricket wasn't as good as we wanted it to be, but I think we've played some great cricket that's given us this opportunity to be in the semifinal. So, I'm proud of each and every one of the boys.'
'They [South Africa] have played exceptionally good cricket in the World Cup thus far. We faced them in Ahmedabad, which I think is a venue that they've grown pretty used to given that they've spent a fair bit of time there. So the semifinals will be in a different venue, it will provide a different challenge.
'That really suits us because it gives us an opportunity to adapt to those conditions pretty quickly, which is something we've done well and do well. So whilst they've been playing very good cricket, we obviously believe that we can beat them.
“It just takes one bad day for a team that's been playing well. So we need to be ready and play our best cricket.'
Walter is hopeful that seamer Matt Henry may be available - he left Colombo after the loss to England on Saturday morning for the birth of his second child with wife Holly in Christchurch.
Walter was in charge of the South Africa side when they made the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, losing narrowly to India at an event the Black Caps failed to get out of the group stage at.
Current Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad said after continuing their unbeaten run by topping Group One with a win over Zimbabwe that his troops were comfortable with being favourites to reach the final.
“Because I've always felt that as a South African team, you want to be able to play as a favourite. It's easy being an underdog, you know. The expectation isn't that great or that much. Now we've assumed the tag [of favourites], which we don't really talk much about.
'There's always pressure,” Conrad said.
“It's what you do with that pressure and how you shift the pressure. It's really about embracing that pressure. And we don't do things any differently. We're going to prepare exactly the same way for New Zealand and whether we start that game as favourites, probably because we're the only unbeaten side in the competition. I don't know if that adds to the pressure. A semifinal is pressure enough. Playing a top side, New Zealand, is pressure enough. So there's no added pressure.'