The reigning champions England will lock horns against South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai in the 20th game of the ongoing World Cup on Saturday. Both England and South Africa were stunned by Afghanistan and Netherlands respectively in their previous matches and they will look to bounce back.
England was beaten by Afghanistan by a huge margin of 69 runs and they will need to pull up their socks. The Three Lions conceded 284 runs on the board whereas they were skittled out for 215 runs as none of their batters could show resistance, barring Harry Brook.
England has received a massive boost as their star all-rounder Ben Stokes is available for selection and he is going to add value to the middle order.
However, it will be interesting to note who Stokes will replace in the playing XI as Harry Brook has been in decent form and thus Liam Livingstone’s place could come under scrutiny. Furthermore, Chris Woakes hasn’t been at his best and he was taken apart in the last game against Afghanistan.
On the other hand, South Africa won their opening two matches but they floundered against the Dutch as they lost by 38 runs. Their death bowling was not up to the mark whereas they kept losing wickets at regular intervals in the run-chase.
Match Prediction: It could be a tight game between these two potent teams but England might start as slight favorites against South Africa in batting-friendly conditions in Mumbai.
England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.
South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams.
