Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson's tons propel NZ to 362

Centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson, followed by vital cameos from Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips powered New Zealand to 362 for 6 against South Africa in the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy. Once the centurions set up a platform with a massive 164-run partnership, New Zealand plundered 110 runs at the death in Lahore to post a commanding total that would fancy defending.

An unchanged New Zealand made a decent start after opting to bat in conditions that have been quite familiar to them in recent times. After a watchful start, Ravindra started opening up, targeting Marco Jansen in particular. He hit three cracking boundaries in an over from the left-arm pacer to stamp his authority and at the other end, Will Young put away a couple of short deliveries from boundaries as well. However, against the run of play, Lungi Ngidi broke the partnership with a slower delivery that was miscued by Young.

Even though South Africa pulled the run rate back for a brief period with Williamson biding his time, it was all one-way traffic once he too got going with a flick against Kagiso Rabada. Ravindra was in a murderous mood as he took on Wiaan Mulder for three fours in an over. The introduction of Keshav Maharaj did stop the boundaries for a while before both Ravindra and Williamson smashed him for a six each.

As the duo kept milking the attack, they reached their respective landmarks. It was Ravindra's fifth ODI ton with all five coming in ICC tournaments. Williamson at the other end now started to cut loose with a scoop against Rabada standing out amongst the shots he played. Once again, South Africa needed a slower delivery to pick up a wicket as Ravindra only managed to edge an off-cutter from Rabada to Klaasen to depart for 108. There was no stopping Williamson though as he brought out the scoop once again to bring up his 15th ODI ton - third successive one against South Africa. The hallmark of the innings was the acceleration as the former skipper took only 30 balls for his second fifty.

However, he couldn't carry forward at the death though as his third attempted scoop saw him mistime the shot, and get caught off a fuller delivery. A similar shot brought the downfall of Tom Latham as well as the keeper-batter missed a delivery bowled at a good length to get castled by Rabada. With both the centurions and Latham back in the pavilion, New Zealand needed Mitchell to carry over the hitting duties.

After initially struggling to find the boundary, Mitchell finally ticked that box in the 27th delivery. That helped him kick on as another boundary off Jansen followed before he took Ngidi apart for 6,4,6. Phillips then joined the fun by smashing four successive boundaries off Jansen. Phillips continued to make merry after Mitchell's departure to guide his team past the 360-run mark as New Zealand hammered an impressive 83 runs from the final six overs.

Brief scores: New Zealand 362/6 in 50 overs (Rachin Ravindra 108, Kane Williamson 102, Glenn Phillips 49*; Lungi Ngidi 3/72) vs South Africa