Fitness worries for Steyn, Faf as S Africa take on SL

South African captain Faf du Plessis and spearhead Dale Steyn will undergo fitness tests ahead of their opening World Twenty20 game in Chittagong, the skipper said on Friday.Both du Plessis and Steyn took part in team practice on Friday but have not fully recovered from hamstring injuries.

“It’s been a pretty intense week for Dale and myself trying to make sure we are 100 percent ready for the game tomorrow (Saturday),” du Plessis said, ahead of the match against world number one Twenty20 team Sri Lanka.

“As of now we are still assessing, we both will do a fitness test tomorrow to see where we are. We seem to be okay, but we will have a look at it tomorrow to see how the hami (hamstring) is doing.”

Du Plessis missed both the warm-up matches ahead of the tournament while Steyn limped off after bowling 2.2 overs against Bangladesh ‘A’ on Tuesday. Both missed the warm-up tie against Pakistan on Wednesday.

Du Plessis said he didn’t face problems in batting. “Batting is 100 percent fine. I don’t feel anything, but it’s just when you are sprinting. Pace wise I am up to about 70 per cent, hopefully we can crank that up to around 90-95 tomorrow.”

South Africa’s one-day captain AB de Villiers is likely to lead in case du Plessis is ruled out on Saturday. South Africa are in Group 1 along with England and New Zealand as well as Sri Lanka. The other team in the Group are Netherlands.

Broad confidentStuart Broad is confident of being fit for England's opening game of World Twenty20 against New Zealand.

The pace bowler had missed three games with tendonitis in his right knee but bowled two overs in Thursday's 20-run loss to India in Dhaka and is confident he will be clear to play on Saturday. "I see the past 10 days as a positive because it's been a long winter for me and that period has freshened me up a bit," the England skipper told SkySports

"I'm very hopeful. It was strange for me to be having my first bowl for 10 days without having a fitness test. "With it being a warm-up game it was an opportunity for us and it gave me a lot of confidence to have 12 balls in the middle, because we know how different it is bowling in nets to bowling in a game.