From baby joy to T20 World Cup final: Special week for New Zealand pacer Matt Henry

Matt Henry had an emotional and busy week as New Zealand national cricket team reached the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 with a dominant nine-wicket win over South Africa national cricket team.Henry had travelled back home after New Zealand’s match against England national cricket team on February 27 to be present for the birth of his son. Soon after, he returned to India and joined the team in Kolkata just a few hours before the semifinal on Wednesday.

Despite the long journey and little rest, Henry played an important role in the match. He took 2 wickets for 34 runs, including two wickets in the final over, helping restrict South Africa to 169/8.

New Zealand later chased the target comfortably.Henry said it was very special for him to be at home for the birth of his child. "Pretty special to be able to get home for that (child birth)," Henry said of the extraordinary week in a media interaction after their win."Obviously Holly's doing really well and Jack's really good as well and Annabelle's enjoying being a big sister so it's all good. So yeah, no, it was pretty special to be home for that.”

The fast bowler said he relied on experience rather than practice before the semifinal because there was little time to prepare. He focused on staying mentally fresh and trusting his skills."We've had lots of cricket so I think at this point it's trust. Obviously if there's rain you can't train either so just going for that approach where making sure they're mentally fresh, mentally ready and just being confident in your skills that you possess.

So for me it was getting here and doing a job for the team and thankfully we did that."In the semifinal, South Africa looked set to score more than 170 after a strong innings from Marco Jansen. But Henry returned for the last over after discussing plans with captain Mitchell Santner and bowled well, taking two wickets and conceding only six runs."Yeah obviously the powerplay is so important especially here and to restrict runs and take wickets is what you're trying to achieve and to restrict that side to that total of 169 was a brilliant job," he said."I think we'd be taking that any day here at Kolkata and Eden Gardens obviously it's tough when you've got a small side like that as well to protect."It can be really dangerous with the power hitters, so I think we did a great job of controlling that. Also wrestling some momentum into our batting innings which is obviously really good as well."New Zealand will now play the final in Ahmedabad. They will face the winner of the second semifinal between India national cricket team and England national cricket team.