South Africa is going through a horrible run in this World Cup. A team with a rich history to boast is getting steamrolled by every opposition team. Bangladesh, England and India, all defeated them with ease. Without AB de Villiers, who offered to come out of retirement in controversial circumstances, the South African batting appears a shadow of its former glorious self. Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla are failing to give them a strong opening stand, and the middle order looks weak with David Miller and JP Duminy terribly out of form. Their famed bowling attack too has looked wayward and toothless, with the injury to Dale Steyn a big setback. Captain Faf du Plessis recently said that he has a lot of problems to deal with, and if South Africa loses against West Indies, their problems will only increase.
West Indies has blown hot and cold. They blew away Pakistan in the opening match by 7 wickets. Against Australia, they peppered the opposition's top order with a barrage of short balls, reducing them to 38/4. But they failed to capitalise on the advantage and let Australia make a comeback to post a fighting total of 288. Their batting then failed to click against the quality fast bowling of Mitchell Starc, and they ended up losing the match. Their bowling has the raw pace and threat to intimidate any batting line-up, but it also has the tendency to lose the plot as the game goes on. They bowled too many extras against Australia, and that ended being the difference between the two sides. On the batting front, the likes of Gayle and Brathwaite and Russell need to be consistent and take on the onus of changing gears in the crucial phases of the game. On their day, they can smoke any bowling attack but they need to do it on a regular basis.
Match time: 3 PM (IST)
Where to watch:
Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, & Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports 1 Bangla.
Team news: West Indies is expected to field an unchanged eleven while South Africa can bring in Markram in place of Dussen
Weather Report: Conditons will remain overcast and rain is expected to halt the progress of the match.
Pitch report: The Ageas Bowl in Southampton is expected to help the batsmen, but the India-South Africa match showed that the pitch has a lot of carry and bounce for the bowlers.
Probable XIs:
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis (captain), Aiden Markram, David Miller, JP Duminy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Shai Hope, Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Andre Russell, Jason Holder (captain), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas
Betting odds: According to Oddschecker, South Africa 19/20, West Indies 19/20
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks