South Africa will face the UAE in Wellington on Thursday
Wednesday 11 March 2015 16:23, UK
South Africa will be looking to finish their World Cup pool campaign with a convincing victory when they take on minnows the United Arab Emirates in Wellington on Thursday (1am, Sky Sports World Cup).
The Proteas will be hot favourites to make it four wins from six matches, which would secure second place in Pool B and set up a quarter-final against Sri Lanka in Sydney on 18 March.
But South Africa have a concern over the lower back of batsman Faf du Plessis, while paceman Vernon Philander will also have a fitness test on Thursday morning.
Rilee Rossouw and Farhaan Behardien may therefore be given opportunities to stake a claim for places in the quarter-final line-up, while Aaron Phangiso may fill in for Imran Tahir if it is decided to rest the leg spinner.
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The UAE have lost all four of their matches so far but have not been disgraced and impressive batsman Shaiman Anwar was the leading run scorer in the tournament after every team had played four matches, although he has since lost that status.
Captain Mohammad Tauqir said: “We've had a few close games. One bad game against India but, overall, a good learning experience for our team.
“We'd like to do well in the last two matches. We've got a few good cricketers who would like to prove a point."
South Africa came into the tournament as one of the favourites but have already suffered defeats to India and Pakistan.
However, captain AB de Villiers said on Wednesday: “We didn't expect to be five from five.
"The World Cup is a funny tournament. You've got to take whatever comes your way, and we've had a rocky road.
"But, if you look at the standings at the moment, we win the last game, we'll be in a good position to go with a lot of confidence into the quarters.
"Yes, we would have liked to win those two big games against India and Pakistan. It didn't happen that way, and there's no time to sulk about that now.
"Now it's important to be confident. I still want the boys to believe we're the best, which we are.
“We're just going to go in with that kind of attitude in tomorrow's game, and then whatever comes around for the quarters, we'll take it head on."
