World T20: South Africa seek to pounce on wounded England

MUMBAI: England’s ICC World Twenty20 campaign began on a terrible note, with their bowlers pummelled into submission by Chris Gayle at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday. Eoin Morgan, their captain, looked in a daze as he tried to front up to the media after the shellacking, which has extended to four England’s losing streak to West Indies in the tournament and left them needing to win their remaining matches.
England have but a day to recuperate before facing South Africa on Friday at the same venue, a team to which the lost 0-2 in a T20I series in February. It cannot be an easy place to be.
South Africa, led by Faf du Plessis, are a very strong side but as with most South African sides of the past, questions hang over their ability to last the distance at ICC tournaments. After the England series, they were beaten 2-1 by Australia and the two losses in that series threw up concerns over their ability to win the most crucial moments. Starting their campaign against a wounded England could be advantageous.
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Date: March 18, 2016
Time: 19:30 IST
Weather: Warm, with temperatures between 25 to 32 degrees Celsius
Team talk:
Both teams cancelled their scheduled training sessions on Thursday, so team combinations can be gauged by their most recent playing XIs. England chose to go in with four pace bowlers against West Indies and that worked just fine for Gayle on Wednesday evening. The strip for this match is the adjacent one, which has a greener tinge. Ben Stokes should keep his place considering he’s an allrounder, but one of David Willey and Reece Topley, the two left-arm quicks, could be dropped. Liam Plunkett stands a chance to return to the XI.
England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Ben Stokes, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Liam Plunkett, 11 David Willey
South Africa’s XI should pick itself. JP Duminy’s sudden spike means he’s a certainty to hold down a spot, but whether South Africa opt for two similar seamers who can bat in Chris Morris and David Wiese, or opt for a shot of pace in Kyle Abbott, is trickier. Wiese hasn’t taken a wicket in the warm-ups and has been expensive, so he looks unlikely to make the cut. Farhaan Behardien didn’t do anything in the same games, so he too should sit out.
South Africa: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Faf du Plessis (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 JP Duminy, 6 David Miller, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Dale Steyn, 9 Kyle Abbott, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Imran Tahir
Quote unquote:
“We look at all games as a must win game, certainly the next one. Against South Africa we will counter them with the bat and try and execute our plans.” - Eoin Morgan
"I've always said I can bowl on anything. I prefer the wickets that are slow and turning because the ball stops. It makes it tough for batters to hit you out of the ground.” - Dale Steyn
T20I record in 2016
England: P 3 W 0 L 3
South Africa: P 5 W 3 L 2
Key stats:
- England have only beaten South Africa thrice in 11 T20Is.
- In the T20I series between these two teams this year, Hashim Amla’s strike-rate was 154.23.
- In three T20Is, England’s Liam Plunkett has a bowling strike-rate of 10.2
Ground conditions:
Expect another high-scoring match, should the batsmen on both sides tee off to potential. There could be a bit more juice in the surface, but for that to come into effect the fast bowlers will need to be far better than England’s and West Indies’ were on Wednesday.