T20 World Cup: Allen Century leads New Zealand to T20 World Cup final

Finn Allen hit a sensational unbeaten century as New Zealand beat 2024 runners-up South Africa by nine wickets to reach the final of the Men’s T20 World Cup for the second time.

Chasing 170 after a 27-ball half-century from Marco Janssen rescued South Africa from 77-5, Allen hit 100 off 33 balls, including 10 fours and eight sixes, as New Zealand cruised to victory with 43 balls to spare.

Tim Seifert crushed a quick half-century of his own (58 off 33) as the New Zealand opener scored 117 runs (55 balls) for the first wicket before Allen went into overdrive.

He made 42 runs off just 11 deliveries to dominate his 56-run stand with Rasheen Ravindra, including dispatching Janssen for five consecutive boundaries to complete an emphatic win.

South Africa were previously unbeaten in this tournament, including a seven-wicket win over the Blackcaps in the preliminary group stage, but faltered with the bat after losing the toss.

They lost Quinton de Kock (10) and Ryan Rickelton (0) on successive deliveries in the second to fall to 12-2 while both Aiden Markram (18 from 20) and David Miller (6) failed to capitalize on their falling three.

When Dewald Preves (34 off 27) curled a routine delivery to Mitchell Santner into the covers in the 11th over, it looked like the game was over for the South African but Janssen found a steady partner in Tristan Stubbs (29 off 24) before bursting into life in the last over to push the Proteas from 108-5 to 169-8.

Jansen put on 73 runs (48 balls) for the sixth wicket with Stubbs and hit five sixes in his unbeaten 55 off 30 balls.

However, that soon proved not to be enough, as New Zealand never looked back after their devastating openers took their first six overs for 84 runs.