T20 World Cup: South Africa up against the odds, mighty England in bid for semis

South Africa have the odds stacked against them in their bid to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup as they take on a formidable England in their Super 12 Group 1 clash in Sharjah on Saturday.  

Not only do the Proteas have to inflict England’s first defeat of the World Cup so far, the victory also has to be by a big enough margin to better Australia‘s net run rate (NRR), if the Aaron Finch-led side beat the West Indies in the afternoon match. 

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England’s unblemished campaign in the UAE has seen clinical performances against every opponent, giving them eight points from four games and a net run rate (of +3.183) that virtually seals their spot in the final four. 

Meanwhile, South Africa are third in the standings, tied on points with Australia but below them due to an inferior NRR. 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.

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But with form on their side, an ominous-looking England will definitely start as firm favourites against the Proteas.

The Temba Bavuma-led side opened their campaign with a defeat against Australia but then got their campaign back on track with three consecutive wins over Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

However, South Africa’s batting wasn’t up to the mark against Australia, whose bowling attack was better than the other three opponents against whom they won.

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 and look like one of the best teams in the tournament, other than Pakistan.