YOURS TO LOSE: Proteas have one foot in semis ahead of England clash

THE Proteas are firmly in control of their own destiny as Group B teams fight it out for a spot in the Champions Trophy semi-finals over the next few days.

While the semi-finalists in the Group A have already been decided, with New Zealand and India already through to the knockout stage, South Africa, Australia and Afghanistan are now fighting it out on Friday and and Saturday to see who will join them.

The Proteas essentially have one foot in the final following their commanding 107-run triumph over Afghanistan and their rained out fixture against Australia.

SA top Group B because of a superior net run-rate, Australia also have three points and are second on the log with Afghanistan third on two points and England fourth and out of the tournament heading into the final round.

Afghanistan’s and Australia therefore meet in a virtual quarter-final on Friday at 11am.

The Proteas will go through automatically if they beat England in their match on Saturday. But there is room for failure because of their net run-rate.

The Proteas will still go through if they don’t have a catastrophic meltdown against England and suffer a heavy defeat. They just need to make sure that their run-rate is better than Australia’s if Afghanistan manages a win on Friday.

Rassie van der Dussen, though, is not taking any chances and says ahead of their meeting with the already-out England: “I think that’s what is going to make them dangerous. Like we mentioned, they have nothing to lose and will be out to prove a point after some really stern criticism from their press back home and online and so forth from the things that I’ve seen.

“I think we were always coming into this match saying that it could possibly be a quarter-final type of situation... ”