South Africa vs England Playing 11, Champions Trophy 2025: SA take on ENG in KarachiSouth Africa’s wait to get into the semifinals got a little bit longer when Australia vs Afghanistan match was abandoned by the rain on Friday. If Australia had beaten Afghanistan, both them and the Proteas would have qualified on Thursday itself. But due to the washout, the Temba Bavuma-led side will face England in Karachi.
The Proteas already have one foot in the semifinal and even a loss by a small margin to England won’t be enough to eliminate them due to their superior run rate. The only way the South African team can be eliminated is only if England beat them by more than 200 runs which if you look at England’s form this tournament, doesn’t seem a possibility.
South Africa will hope that Heinrich Klaasen, who hasn’t played a single game this tournament due to an injury, will be raring to go after getting cleared to play. The destructive batter is always an asset for any side but with him joining a South African side that is already firing on all cylinders with Ryan Rickelton, Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram all in good touch, England might find it pretty hard to keep South Africa quiet. Tony de Zorzi is expected to sit the match out if Klaasen plays.
England who are already eliminated might opt for a single change with bowler Mark Wood sitting out due to injury. He’ll likely be replaced by Saqib Mahmood who had a decent T20I and ODI series against India where he accounted for Rohit Sharma’s scalp in the 1st ODI.
England: Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
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