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Vettori keen to rubber stamp Black Cap's progress to the semis

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New Zealand meet the hosts South Africa but it's a close one to call

South Africa have certainly taken advantage of home conditions, with their win over the West Indies in the tournament's opening match one of the most impressive performances so far, and they are a strong 1.73 favourite to add another victory against New Zealand.

They have since followed that up with a win over Bangladesh, and then battled hard to see off a plucky effort from England in their first match of the Super Eight phase, a result that leaves them not necessarily needing a victory from this match.

The Proteas will have the cushion of a game to come against India on Thursday if they are beaten by the Kiwis, but their skipper Graeme Smith will not be thinking of anything but a fourth win from four games as they take to the field.

Like most solid Twenty20 sides, they possess a long batting line-up and, in the unheralded Albie Morkel, one of the biggest hitters in the tournament. He has scored 84 runs so far from down the order off only 49 balls and would be a very interesting top run-scorer option if he ever moved up the order from No 7.

But with the quality of Smith, Mark Boucher and AB de Villiers at the top of the order, runs should rarely be a problem and, if Herschelle Gibbs is fit to return from a hamstring problem, that is just another string to their bow.

Their bowling is also strong, although a couple of teams did take a liking to Shaun Pollock earlier in the competition, but Johan van der Wath has proved to be an excellent death bowler and Morne Morkel (brother of Albie) has been another decent find, with four wickets in three matches.

But New Zealand, who can be backed at 2.18, come into the game on the crest of a wave after securing a place in the final four by beating England in battling fashion, having to recover from a slow start while batting, and then improving their bowling as England's reply progressed.

Skipper Daniel Vettori has been their best bowler and it was his dismissals of Solanki and Pietersen that turned the game in the Kiwis' favour on Tuesday - he is only 5.4 to end the tournament as the top overall wicket-taker after moving to 10 wickets in four games to date.

Add in Shane Bond's pace and a collection of reasonable medium-pacers and it is tough to see the Kiwi attack being flayed too badly by any team.

With the likes of Scott Styris and Craig McMillan hitting the ball well - their 60-run partnership against England turned a bad start into a decent innings - they should always be in position to post a competitive total or chase one, but the potential loss of Jacob Oram with a finger injury could be important further down the line.

• Cricket
• Twenty20 World Cup