South Africa Dust Off Defeat To Take On Bangladesh

London: A bruised South African side will meet Bangladesh in their World Cup opener on Sunday at The Oval in London. In their opening match against England, the Proteas were condemned to a 104-run defeat largely due to England's ability to use home conditions better and the combined brilliance of Joffra Archer and Ben Stokes.

South Africa will have learnt more about using the conditions which only makes Bangladesh's task all the more difficult. Even in that defeat, South Africa showed that they have the resources to justify their tag as one of the favourites behind England, India and Australia. Quinton de Kock looked good in his knock of 68. South African bowlers performed well enough to make it look like they could win the match at the end of the England innings. Faf du Plessis and Aiden Markram fell to Archer while Hashim Amla was forced to retire hurt due to a bouncer from the 24-year-old. The three batsmen however, are in good form and remain a threat to any bowling side.

Bangladesh were given an injury scare on Friday when Tamim Iqbal had to leave the nets after being struck by the ball on the left wrist. Tamim averages 50.71 in seven ODIs played in England and this includes scores of 128 and 95 in the first two matches of the 2017 Champions Trophy. Additionally, they are monitoring the fitness of captain Mashrafe Mortaza who has a hamstring issue and ace pacer Mustafizur Rahman who has been struggling with his calf. Mahmadullah has been nursing a shoulder injury while all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan suffered a back spasm recently, although the latter is expected to be fully fit for the game.

The teams are an interesting mix of youth and experience--Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah Riyad, Shakib Al Hasan (vc), Mohammad Mithun (wk), Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock (vc & wk), David Miller, JP Duminy, Hashim Amla, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi (IANS)

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