London: South Africa will attempt to put a heavy defeat to England behind them when they return to The Oval for a Cricket World Cup clash with Bangladesh on Sunday.
The Proteas suffered a 104-run loss to the hosts in the opening match of the tournament on Thursday.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis admitted his side had been outplayed by the World Cup favourites but would learn from a tough start in London.
While the bowlers did manage to execute their plans for the most part of the innings, Du Plessis admitted that Dale Steyn’s absence hurt them dearly.
The Proteas will need significant contributions from their senior batsmen, to set it up against the promising Bangladesh unit.
Bangladesh had defeated a strong Proteas side in the super-eights stage of the 2007 Worl Cup, and they would like to remind South Africa of that stat.
Giant killers
Bangladesh knocked England out of the World Cup 2015 and they did the same to India in 2007 World Cup. So they are not weak opponents by any means and South Africa will be wary of that. The two sides have played three matches against each other in the World Cup, of which South Africa emerged victorious on two occasions compared to Bangladesh’s one.
Amla doubtful
South Africa’s batting mainstay Hashim Amla is a doubt for Sunday’s important clash. The 36-year-old suffered a sickening blow to the grille of his helmet when he was late on a venomous Jofra Archer bouncer. News out of the Proteas camp on Saturday, where Amla was nowhere to be seen, was that a decision on his availability will only be taken on Sunday ahead of the toss.
