Photo : ESPNcrickinfo
In a bid to secure a historic spot in the final, South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first in the second semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2023 on Thursday (16 November) in Kolkata.
Although South Africa has reached the semifinals twice before, they have yet to make it to the final. This time, however, they enter the semifinal with notable victories in the event's league phase.
Australia, the team with the most World Cup victories, is also in excellent form in India, winning all of their last five matches. In previous encounters, Australia has advanced each time they faced South Africa in the semifinals, first in 1999 and then in 2007.
Weather condition due to depression in the Bay of Bengal may impact the match, with rain expected at some point. South Africa's captain, during the toss, acknowledged the weather factor. In the event of unfavorable weather on the scheduled day in Kolkata, the semifinal will move to the reserve day. If the reserve day also fails to yield a result, the team with the higher ranking will progress to the final, in this case, South Africa.
At the historic Eden Gardens, Australia has played only three ODIs, winning two before losing the last one to India in 2017. South Africa played six matches at the Eden, and won only two of them.
Australia XI: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
South Africa XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.
Messenger/Sun Yath
