England take on South Africa at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday night.
With 4 wins in 4 games, England have virtually qualified for semi-final while the tussle for the other spot from this group is between South Africa and Australia who have 3 wins from 4 games. Australia face West Indies in the day before South Africa take on England in the night. So, South Africa will be hoping for a West Indies victory and then put up their best performance to register a win against England.
England: England have been really clinical so far in this tournament and have asserted the fact that they are the best in white ball cricket at present. They defeated West Indies by 6 wickets with 70 balls remaining to start off their campaign. They followed it up with a 8 wicket win with 35 balls to spare against Bangladesh and which was followed by a 8 wicket win over Australia, this time with 50 balls to spare. Sri Lanka gave them a good fight but they still managed to squeeze a 26 run win over them. They don't only have 4 wins from 4 games but an extraordinary NRR of 3.183 as well.
England's batting has been led by Jos Buttler. His scores so far have been- 24(22), 18(18), 71(32) and 101(67)*. However , the key to success for them has been their bowling- Adil Rashid (7 wickets, 10.71 average, 5.23 economy), Tymal Mills (7 wickets, 15.42 average, 8 economy), Moeen Ali (6 wickets, 8.33 average, 5 economy), Chris Jordan (6 wickets, 10.5 average, 5.25 economy), Chris Woakes (5 wickets, 14.4 average, 5.76 economy) and Liam Livingstone (4 wickets, 16 average, 5.81 economy) which is in great form. A big setback for them is the fact that Tymal Mills has been ruled out of the tournament.
South Africa: South Africa stands at 3rd position in Group 1 at the moment with 6 points and a NRR of +0.742. Australia stands at no.2 with the same number of points and a NRR of +1.031. Given the difference in NRR, South Africa will be eagerly hoping for a West Indies win over Australia at first and then would look for a win themselves. Though South Africa has performed above expectation in this tournament, it will be an uphill task for them to defeat England.
South Africa's only loss in this tournament so far came in their opening match against Australia. Post that, South Africa has had 3 consecutive wins- defeating West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Though none of their batsman have set the stage on fire so far, but they had had some good collective batting performances from Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Temba Bavuma and Reeza Hendricks. Among the bowlers, Anrich Nortje has been too hot to handle for the opponent batsmen. His combined figures so far in this tournament read- 15.2-0-70-8. He has been supported well by Dwaine Pretorius (7 wickets, 10.14 average, 6.08 economy), Tabraiz Shamsi (6 wickets, 16.16 average, 6.46 economy), Kagiso Rabada (5 wickets, 21.4 average, 7.13 economy) and Keshav Maharaj (3 wickets, 34.66 average, 6.5 economy). Even Aiden Markram has snuck in some tight overs.
Head to Head
Matches : 21
England Won : 11
South Africa Won : 9
No Result : 1
In T20 World Cup
South Africa Won : 3
England Won : 2
Stats and Facts
1) Jos Buttler(390) has the most runs for England against South Africa in T20Is.
2) Dawid Malan(99*) has the highest individual score in England-South Africa encounters in T20I.
3) Chris Jordan(15) has the most wickets for England in T20Is between England and South Africa.
4) Lungi Ngidi(12) has the most wickets for South Africa against England in T20Is.
5) So far, Jos Buttler is the only centurion in this edition of the T20 World Cup.
6) So far, Jos Buttler(212) has the highest average in this T20 World Cup.
7) Jos Buttler(12) has hit the most sixes till now in this T20 World Cup.
Probable Playing XIs
England: Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma (c), Aiden Markram, Dwaine Pretorius, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Dream11 Fantasy Team
