South Africa are all set to begin their ICC Men's T20 World Cup campaign as they take on Zimbabwe in their first match of the Super 12s at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Monday.
Overview
Zimbabwe have finally made it through to the Super 12s after a long wait and they will be motivated to perform even better now that they are here, competing against far superior teams in terms of quality and experience. But Craig Ervine and his men have already made a statement with the way they have performed relentlessly of late. They entered the tournament with eight wins in their last 10 T20I matches and they also caused an upset in an ODI against Australia last month, which shows that they have the quality to take down big teams. And that’s exactly what they will be looking to do when they take on South Africa in their first Super 12 encounter in Hobart on Monday.
Ervine’s men delivered some excellent performances in the qualifying stage. They won two of their three matches to enter the Super 12s and their bowlers played a big role to make this possible. The bowlers were disciplined throughout the three matches, restricting their oppositions to totals around 150 in every game. Only their batting looked a bit concerning as they had to depend on their star all-rounder Sikandar Raza to play match-winning knocks in both of their victories. Their skipper Ervine stepped up against Scotland, though, as he played a steady knock of 58 to guide them home. And the other batters need to follow their captain’s lead now to step up and deliver in this important phase of the tournament.
South Africa, on the other hand, are entering this mega event in an even better shape as a team than they were last time. They have played only 13 T20Is since the last T20 World Cup but barring Ireland, all of their matches have been against strong teams like India and England. And the Proteas have proven their mettle winning three matches against India and winning two against England.
The bowling unit looks well-balanced with Kagiso Rabada leading the pace attack and Tabraiz Shamsi forming the spin-bowling pair along with Keshav Maharaj. The batting line-up has also settled down well and the presence of David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen, both of whom have been in rich vein of form, in the middle-order gives them an extra layer of security and assurance. The Proteas also outclassed New Zealand in their recent warm-up fixture and the bowling attack played a big role in that win as they bowled the kiwis out for a paltry total of 98.
The only concern for them, however, is the form of their skipper Temba Bavuma. He is averaging a meagre 10.66 in T20Is this year along with an even worse strike-rate of 82.05. His failures haven’t allowed South Africa to get off to good starts and he will need to start delivering soon if he wants his team to stand a chance of making it to the final four.
Predicted Playing XIs
South Africa: Quinton de Kock, Temba Bavuma (c), Rilee Rossouw, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
Zimbabwe: Craig Ervine (c), Regis Chakabva (wk), Wesley Madhevere, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Richard Ngarava, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani
Key Players
David Miller: The southpaw has been in stellar batting form this year. Miller has been a very bankable player for South Africa in the middle-order. He has amassed 283 T20I runs in this tough role in 2022, at an outstanding average and strike-rate of 56.60 and 186.18 respectively. He will have a crucial role to play for his team in this contest once again.
Sikandar Raza: The veteran all-rounder has played match-defining roles in both of Zimbabwe's wins in this T20 World Cup. He scored an unbeaten 82 against Ireland and the scored a match-winning 40 against Scotland, while remaining unbeaten once again. Raza has also picked up five wickets while maintaining a mean economy rate of 5.54. All these numbers suggest that South Africa might have quite a tough time to keep him quiet.
ICC
