SHARJAH, Nov 05 (PTI): A semifinal spot virtually assured, in-form England would look to dent South Africa's hopes of reaching the last-four stage when the two teams meet each other in a high-voltage Group 1 Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Saturday.
With a net run rate of +3.183, England are more or less through to the semifinals with four wins from as many games, while South Africa are lying in the third spot with six points from four matches.
Both South Africa and Australia are in close race for the second semifinal spot from Group 1 but the Australians are above the Proteas on the basis of a better net run rate, though they have six points each.
It will all boil down to Saturday's game and South Africa will know what exactly they need to do before facing England as Australia play West Indies in the first match of the day.
The Proteas can't afford to slip even a bit and need a resounding win to keep their hopes alive. But with form on their side, an ominous-looking England will definitely start as firm favourites against the Proteas.
After three consecutive wins over Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies, South Africa suffered their first defeat against Australia in their last match, putting questions on their campaign.
England would look to capitalise on it and finish off their group campaign with a perfect record. They have more or less ticked all boxes in their campaign so far.
England looked one of the best teams in the tournament other than Pakistan.
While it hasn't been a cakewalk in all the four matches, the Englishmen were clinical in their approach and somebody or the other stepped out to bail the team out whenever in trouble.
England's batting revolves around Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow and skipper Eoin Morgan.
In fact, Buttler achieved two personal milestones in the last match -- scored his maiden T20 century (101 not out of 67 balls) and also became the only English cricketer to hit centuries in all formats of the game.
The opener would be high on confidence to do an encore.
Another good news for England is that skipper Morgan struck form in the last match, scoring 40 off 36 balls and shared 112 runs with Buttler.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
