South Africa Team News
There was a big surprise ahead of their win over the Windies when Quinton de Kock was absent for ‘personal reasons’. We quickly found out that those reasons were that he had opted against ‘taking a knee’ and ruled himself out.
QDK has since apologised, clarified the reasons behind his original decision, apologised and is back in contention. This isn’t the time or place to discuss the whole incident other than to say South Africa are a far better slide with him in it and will be glad that they’ve sorted out the issue eventually.
That’s because on paper he’s their best batsman. But their best batsman so far this World Cup has been Aiden Markram. His 40 against Australia wasn’t enough to win them that game but his 51 not out against the West Indies certainly was.
Add his useful off-spin to the equation, that’s economical rather than wicket-taking, and he may just be their most important player right now.
Without de Kock they beat the Windies to get back on track and give themselves a chance after another fine bowling performance, where only Tabraiz Shamsi was expensive.
Anrich Nortje was man of the match despite only taking one wicket. The reason? He only went for 14 runs off four overs.
De Kock should play here at the expense of Reezan Hendricks.
South Africa’s Likely XI
De Kock, Bavuma, van der Dussen, Markram, Miller, Klasssen, Pretorius, Rabada, Maharaj, Shamsi, Nortje.
Sri Lanka Team News
Sri Lanka will have felt they were in the game at the halfway mark against Australia after posting 154. But David Warner and Aaron Finch put an end to that with some big hitting in the Power Plays and never looked back.
It’s going to be really hard for Sri Lanka to qualify from this position with England all but assured of a Top 2 finish and Australia going well, while a loss to SA would mean the Proteas will fancy their own chances.
But whatever happens in this tournament, the Lankans have had some good performers so far.
Wanindu Hasaranga da Silva has eight wickets in six games and has been extremely economical in all of them. He also hit a 71 with the bat in a qualifying match against Ireland.
Middle-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaska has been impressive as well, scoring 53 and 33 not out in his last two games.
Charith Salanka has been very good, as well. He got 80 not out in that excellent win over Bangladesh and 35 against Australia. So at least they have some decent players for the future.
Avishka Fernando has been disappointing so they might recall the experienced Dinesh Chandimal.
Sri Lanka’s Likely XI
Nissanka, Perera, Asalanka, Chandimal, Rajapaska, Hasaranga de Silva, Shanaka, Kanuratne, Chammera, Kumara, Theekshana.
Venue & conditions
A par score at Sharjah looks to be about 150, which is just short of what the Windies managed against Bangladesh. Get to that and you have a good chance of defending it because despite some short boundaries that batsmen can target, the pitch is low, slow and two-paced at times.
But if chasing teams can bat sensibly and not lose early wickets, 150 is just about chaseable. South Africa are a good bowling unit and if they field first, it could pay to go under 140 innings runs for Sri Lanka on Live Betting.
Here’s our full guide of Sharjah if you’re looking to find out more about betting statistics at this venue.
