The second match of the Super Sunday will see Centurion play
host to South Africa and England in what will be a knock-out game
for the hosts. Given that England has played only one match and won that encounter
against Sri Lanka, a loss would still allow them to make a comeback against New
Zealand in their last match. Click
for Live Score Card of South Africa vs EnglandSouth
Africa will be happier of the two sides given the venue. After all, the Centurion
has been known to assist the spin bowlers, and the side is packed with good quality,
spinners of the like of Johan Botha and Reolf van der Merwe, with
the likes of J.P.Duminy and Graeme Smith himself possessing the ability to roll
the arm over. For South Africa though, it will be the top three that needs
to fire to be able to give some kind of a platform for the likes of A.B. de Villiers
and J.P.Duminy. Herschelle Gibbs may continue to miss the game, and Hashim
Amla, who had a decent second outing against the New Zealanders will open
the innings with Smith. Jacques Kallis has looked good in both the games,
but hasn't gone on to score too many runs after getting starts and he will look
to change that and bat through the innings. For the English side, they seemed
to have arrested the slide with the two successive wins against Australia - in
the last game of the series they were trailing 0-6 - and then in the first game
against Sri Lanka in the tournament. In both the games, what had been common
was that England had won the toss and elected to field first - they had been such
kind of wickets. But Centurion will prove to be a different kettle of fish altogether,
as it is not one of those wickets which will be of too much assistance to the
quick bowlers to begin with and despite Smith's penchant to field first in both
the games so far, the English captain may just end up batting first. Then, would
the English batsmen be able to get the better of the middle overs which have always
been their bane in this summer is a question that needs to be answered. Graham
Onions did come into the side for the both the previous games, but the question
that the English skipper will need to answer is about whether he needs so many
quicks in the side on this track. And if there is a possibility of playing Rashid,
then who could he replace. One of the two, Stuart Broad and Graham Onions
could very be shown the door for the game!
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