Finn Allen struck the fastest century in T20 World Cup history as a staggering performance by New Zealand demolished 2024 runners-up South Africa by nine wickets and booked the Black Caps a place in Sunday's final.
Chasing 170 after a 27-ball half-century from Marco Jansen had rescued South Africa from 77-5, Allen bludgeoned 100 not out from 33 balls, including 10 fours and eight sixes, as a ruthless New Zealand romped to victory with 43 balls to spare.
Allen bettered Chris Gayle's 47-ball century against England in 2016 by 14 deliveries, with his knock also the joint third-fastest century in men's T20 internationals.
Tim Seifert thrashed a brisk half-century of his own (58 off 33) as New Zealand's openers put on 117 runs (55 balls) for the first wicket before Allen kicked into overdrive.
He smacked 42 runs off just 11 deliveries to dominate his 56-run stand with Rachin Ravindra, including dispatching Jansen for five consecutive boundaries to complete an emphatic win.
"I am sure my parents were up watching the whole game. Hopefully they are proud," Allen said.
"It was an extremely impressive start from our bowlers. They set the game up for sure.
"I just looked to play a support role to Tim and if it was in my area I tried to hit it for four or six.
"He has shown the world what he can do and that made it easy for me to sit back and have the best seat in the house. It was good fun batting together."
South Africa were previously unbeaten at this tournament, including a seven-wicket victory over the Black Caps in the initial group phase, but faltered with the bat after losing the toss.
They lost Quinton de Kock (10) and Ryan Rickelton (0) to consecutive deliveries in the second over to slump to 12-2 while Aiden Markram (18 off 20) and David Miller (6) both failed to capitalise on being dropped on three.
When Dewald Brevis (34 off 27) chipped a routine catch to Mitchell Santner in the covers in the 11th over, it felt like game over for South Africa but Jansen found a stable partner in Tristan Stubbs (29 off 24) before bursting into life in the final five overs to propel the Proteas from 108-5 to 169-8.
Jansen put on 73 runs (48 balls) for the sixth wicket with Stubbs and struck five sixes in his unbeaten 55 off 30 balls.
However, it quickly proved nowhere near enough, with New Zealand never looking back after their destructive openers took the opening six overs for 84 runs - a powerplay score bettered only once in this tournament, by India against Namibia.
Allen is no stranger to monster scores, with this latest knock his sixth T20 century and third in a New Zealand shirt.
But after posting an unbeaten 84 (50) against Nepal in the Black Caps' opener, he'd had a relatively quiet tournament. While he registered a strike-rate above 170 in three of his next four innings, his contributions were all too brief, with 31 his highest score.
Not so against South Africa, with the 26-year-old producing a knock his captain Mitchell Santner jokingly described as "not bad" and Matt Henry hailed as "incredible".
He was initially starved of the strike, with Seifert facing 21 of the opening 30 deliveries, but when presented with an opportunity, Allen pounced, playing South Africa on the front foot and flaying boundaries for fun in a chanceless knock.
He struck two sixes in his first nine deliveries before taking the game away from South Africa in the final over of the powerplay.
Lining up Corbin Bosch, Allen dispatched the seamer for a six over backward point and four consecutive fours - one pulled, one driven down the ground, and two swiped over third - to race to 43 (15) and leave New Zealand needing just 86 runs off the remaining 14 overs.
