Familiar surrounds for New Zealand for Champions Trophy semifinal against South Africa

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — After going through all the tangled scheduling, New Zealand returns to its recent favorite venue in Pakistan when it takes on South Africa in the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy in Lahore on Wednesday.

The complex scheduling of the tournament, especially at the tail end of the group stage, saw both South Africa and Australia flying out to Dubai in the knowledge that one team would have to return to Pakistan once the semifinal matchups were confirmed after India played its last group game against New Zealand on Sunday.

The exhausting itinerary was because the Indian government refused permission for its team to travel to Pakistan due to political reasons. This left the ICC, Pakistan Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in India with no other option but to go for a hybrid model and organize all of India's matches in Dubai, including the semifinal and March 9 final if it qualifies.

India trumped New Zealand by 44 runs, which meant Australia stayed in Dubai for the Tuesday’s semifinal against India. South Africa returned to Pakistan with Heinrich Klaasen admitting the short trip to Dubai was “not ideal".

“We knew that there was a big possibility that we might have to fly up and down,” Klaasen said. “It’s not ideal for the bodies, but at least we had some time to get out and walk around and get loose and just had some nice steak, to be fair.

"We knew it’s going to happen and it’s part of the scheduling so two teams had to do it, and unfortunately, we were one of them.”

New Zealand and India were the only two teams in the eight-team tournament which played all their three group matches as rain washed out two games in Rawalpindi, while Australia’s final group game against Afghanistan also ended without a result when heavy rain left the outfield too soggy during Australia’s run chase.

It’s now almost a month since New Zealand arrived in Pakistan and they have happy memories of Gaddafi Stadium where it beat both South Africa and Pakistan in a tri-nation series ahead of the Champions Trophy.

New Zealand is quite familiar with the slow nature of the wickets in Lahore, which might not turn as much as the wickets in Dubai, with Glenn Phillips and Kane Williamson both notching centuries in two high-scoring games during that warm-up series.

But New Zealand will be wary of South Africa’s first-choice bowling unit as Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen didn’t play in the tri-series but can trouble batters on any pitch.

New Zealand romped to two big wins against host Pakistan at Karachi and against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi as they were not only clinical with the bat and ball, but took some splendid catches in the field. However, despite exceling in all the departments in Pakistan, their batters looked vulnerable against spinners with nine wickets falling to slow Indian bowlers on Sunday.

South Africa flattened both Afghanistan and a ragged England in the group games, but its crunch match against Australia was washed out in Rawalpindi and a point from that game was enough for them to top the group.

Just like New Zealand, the South African top-order batters are also in a rich vein of form. Opening batter Ryan Rickelton led the way with his maiden ODI hundred against Afghanistan in the opening game, while Klaasen returned from an elbow injury to smash a quickfire half century against England.

The Proteas will be playing their third successive knockout game in an ICC tournament and hope to go one better than last year's loss to India in final of the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

“The nerves are a little bit less because we have a little bit more experience in the semifinal department now,” Klaasen said. “We just had some bad luck here and there and one or two games that didn’t go our way, but we’ve been playing good cricket.

"It’s the rewards that we’re seeing now. The boys are holding a little bit more composure in the bigger moments in the game.”

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

New Zealand's Kane Williamson bats during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri )

New Zealand's Kane Williamson leaves the ground after losing his wicket during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri )

South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen, right, celebrates with Rassie van der Dussen after hitting a boundary during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between England and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakistan Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen bats during the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between England and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakistan Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

MADRID (AP) — Venezuelans living in Spain are watching the events unfold back home with a mix of awe, joy and fear.

Some 600,000 Venezuelans live in Spain, home to the largest population anywhere outside the Americas. Many fled political persecution and violence but also the country’s collapsing economy.

A majority live in the capital, Madrid, working in hospitals, restaurants, cafes, nursing homes and elsewhere. While some Venezuelan migrants have established deep roots and lives in the Iberian nation, others have just arrived.

Here is what three of them had to say about the future of Venezuela since U.S. forces deposed Nicolás Maduro.

David Vallenilla woke up to text messages from a cousin on Jan. 3 informing him “that they invaded Venezuela.” The 65-year-old from Caracas lives alone in a tidy apartment in the south of Madrid with two Daschunds and a handful of birds. He was in disbelief.

“In that moment, I wanted certainty,” Vallenilla said, “certainty about what they were telling me.”

In June 2017, Vallenilla’s son, a 22-year-old nursing student in Caracas named David José, was shot point-blank by a Venezuelan soldier after taking part in a protest near a military air base in the capital. He later died from his injuries. Video footage of the incident was widely publicized, turning his son’s death into an emblematic case of the Maduro government’s repression against protesters that year.

After demanding answers for his son’s death, Vallenilla, too, started receiving threats and decided two years later to move to Spain with the help of a nongovernmental organization.

On the day of Maduro’s capture, Vallenilla said his phone was flooded with messages about his son.

“Many told me, ‘Now David will be resting in peace. David must be happy in heaven,’” he said. “But don't think it was easy: I spent the whole day crying.”

Vallenilla is watching the events in Venezuela unfold with skepticism but also hope. He fears more violence, but says he has hope the Trump administration can effect the change that Venezuelans like his son tried to obtain through elections, popular protests and international institutions.

“Nothing will bring back my son. But the fact that some justice has begun to be served for those responsible helps me see a light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, I also hope for a free Venezuela.”

Journalist Carleth Morales first came to Madrid a quarter-century ago when Hugo Chávez was reelected as Venezuela's president in 2000 under a new constitution.

The 54-year-old wanted to study and return home, taking a break of sorts in Madrid as she sensed a political and economic environment that was growing more and more challenging.

“I left with the intention of getting more qualified, of studying, and of returning because I understood that the country was going through a process of adaptation between what we had known before and, well, Chávez and his new policies," Morales said. "But I had no idea that we were going to reach the point we did.”

In 2015, Morales founded an organization of Venezuelan journalists in Spain, which today has hundreds of members.

The morning U.S. forces captured Maduro, Morales said she woke up to a barrage of missed calls from friends and family in Venezuela.

“Of course, we hope to recover a democratic country, a free country, a country where human rights are respected,” Morales said. “But it’s difficult to think that as a Venezuelan when we’ve lived through so many things and suffered so much.”

Morales sees it as unlikely that she would return home, having spent more than two decades in Spain, but she said she hopes her daughters can one day view Venezuela as a viable option.

“I once heard a colleague say, ‘I work for Venezuela so that my children will see it as a life opportunity.’ And I adopted that phrase as my own. So perhaps in a few years it won’t be me who enjoys a democratic Venezuela, but my daughters.”

For two weeks, Verónica Noya has waited for her phone to ring with the news that her husband and brother have been freed.

Noya’s husband, Venezuelan army Capt. Antonio Sequea, was imprisoned in 2020 after having taken part in a military incursion to oust Maduro. She said he remains in solitary confinement in the El Rodeo prison in Caracas. For 20 months, Noya has been unable to communicate with him or her brother, who was also arrested for taking part in the same plot.

“That’s when my nightmare began,” Noya said.

Venezuelan authorities have said hundreds of political prisoners have been released since Maduro's capture, while rights groups have said the real number is a fraction of that. Noya has waited in agony to hear anything about her four relatives, including her husband's mother, who remain imprisoned.

Meanwhile, she has struggled with what to tell her children when they ask about their father's whereabouts. They left Venezuela scrambling and decided to come to Spain because family roots in the country meant that Noya already had a Spanish passport.

Still, she hopes to return to her country.

“I’m Venezuelan above all else,” Noya said. “And I dream of seeing a newly democratic country."

Venezuelan journalist Caleth Morales works in her apartment's kitchen in Madrid, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

David Vallenilla, father of the late David José Vallenilla Luis, sits in his apartment's kitchen in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Veronica Noya holds a picture of her husband Antonio Sequea in Madrid, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

David Vallenilla holds a picture of deposed President Nicolas Maduro, blindfolded and handcuffed, during an interview with The Associated Press at his home in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pictures of the late David José Vallenilla Luis are placed in the living room of his father, David José Vallenilla, in Madrid, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)