"We'll lean back on those experiences of Lahore in playing against South Africa"

Skipper Tom Latham said New Zealand will take confidence from their win against South Africa in the triseries when they will face the same opponents in the semifinal of the Champions Trophy 2025Recently New Zealand suffered a defeat by 44 runs against Team India in the Champions Trophy 2025 matchPreviously New Zealand chased the target of 305 runs against South Africa during the triseries in Pakistan Ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against South Africa Tom Latham feels those experiences will help them in the game on WednesdayYeah the South Africa team that we played potentially will be slightly different they had a lot of guys that werent in that side They were still playing in their SAT20 back in South Africa so will be slightly different Tom LathamBut I guess from our point of view well lean back on those experiences of Lahore in playing against South Africa Tom Latham said after the loss to IndiaSo yeah well look to prep as best we can Well do everything that we do leading up to a game Its obviously going to be a reasonably quick turnaround but it is what it is And well be looking forward to the challenge of a semifinalFurther Tom Latham stated that what matters for New Zealand is their attitude towards the game and preparationAlso ReadEXCLUSIVE lsquoRohit Sharma isnrsquot playing gully cricketrsquo Childhood coach blasts Cong spokesperson over lsquofatshamingrsquo remarksas we go into every game we prepare as best we can Individuals have slightly different preparation And yeah we obviously fielded fantastically well today Sunday which was fantastic And I think thats something we like to doEspecially from a fielding point of view is to I guess have a presence in the field and keep taking every I guess attacking option that we can and I think weve seen throughout the tournament some of the catches that the guys have been taking For us we believe that I guess from a fielding point of view its an attitude thing Tom Latham saidOur attitude is always the same We turn up trying to play our brand of cricket as best we can And if we stick to that then hopefully that will give us a good chance at the back end of the gameAhead of their match against South Africa Tom Latham said that they are not going to take the Proteas lightlyNew Zealand had sealed their semifinal spot ahead of Sundays loss to India in Dubai The Kiwis also had prior knowledge that they would have to return to Pakistan for their last four gameThats something thats out of our control We dont decide the schedule for us it is about turning up at each game regardless of where it is and trying to play our best brand of cricket as best we can Latham saidSo whether it be here whether it be in Pakistan our focus will obviously be on South Africa Were fortunate enough we had a triseries in Pakistan and against South AfricaSo weve got a chance to look back on those experiences and give it our best in a semifinal which is pretty coolLatham said though the surfaces in Pakistan were on the slower side they have not spun as much as the pitches in DubaiI think if you look at the surfaces that weve played in Pakistan theyve obviously been on the slower side potentially havent spun as much as weve seen here in Dubai but things or conditions can change a little bit from the daytime to the nighttime he saidweve seen throughout the games in Pakistan that towards the back end of the game a little bit of juice settles in and sometimes can be a little bit easier A little bit nicer to bat on potentiallyIndia will play Australia in the first semifinal here on TuesdayWith PTI Inputs