South Africa heaved a sigh of relief when they won their match against the Netherlands by mere six runs.
South Africa heaved a sigh of relief when they won their match against the Netherlands by mere six runs.
Back-to-back victories have boosted the Proteas’ confidence and now they take on the English in which the looser books the ticket back home. Faf du Plessis and his men will look to put themselves in contention for a semis berth. Though the Proteas began the tourney on a losing note, by losing to Sri Lanka by five runs, successive wins against New Zealand and the Netherlands have brought the confidence back in the camp.
South Africa are only relying on man – Dale Steyn, who scalped four wickets to derail New Zealand’s chase in their second match. Thought Imran Tahir did pick wickets against the Dutch, the batting looks weak. J P Duminy has been their best batsman in the tournament but Faf du Plessis and De Villiers have been out of form for quite some time and they will have to show much more responsibility.
England on the other hand, were unlucky against the Kiwis when they lost on the Duckworth Lewis method. But when the chips were down, Stuart Broad’s men showed their tougher side as the Poms battled to a hard-fought victory over the Sri Lankans with Alex Hales top scoring a 64-ball 116. Their fielding was shoddy to say the least but Broad knows South Africa are a tougher opposition on their day, the likes of AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla can take the English bowlers to the cleaners.
South Africa go into this tie as a favourite but England showed in the last game that nothing is impossible in T20.
Squads:
England: Stuart Broad (C), Michael Lumb, Alex Hales, Ian Bell, Craig Kieswetter, Moeen Ali, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler (wk), Ravi Bopara, Chris Jordan, Tim Bresnan, James Tredwell, Jade Dernbach, Stephen Parry, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright, Joe Root, Ben Stokes.
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (C), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Jean-Paul Duminy, Beuran Hendricks, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
