Both South Africa and England are concerned about the dew and the lights at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, with the latter opting for a double-training session on Friday ahead of their crucial encounter today. After their scheduled optional practice session at the ZACS from 2:00 pm on Friday, England returned with the full team to get accustomed to the conditions under lights.
South Africa also opted to practise from 7:00pm as they have yet to play match at night at the ZACS.
Still, England are looking to continue with the momentum they gathered after their remarkable win against Sri Lanka.
England went on to beat Sri Lanka by six wickets on the back of their first Twenty 20 International centurion, Alex Hales, who plundered 116 not out. England reached 190-4 in 19.2 overs after Sri Lanka posted 189-4.
‘T20 is a moment’s game and the innings we chased against Sri Lanka is one of the best I ever witnessed,’ England skipper Stuart Broad told reporters.
‘It was historic a chase, Alex Hales getting first 100, but most importantly got the team over the line,’ said Broad.
‘The confidence and belief we get from that going into our final two games is going to be huge,’ he added.
The English skipper is looking forward to using the experience of playing at night when they take on the Proteas under the floodlights of Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
‘We’ve got the advantage of playing two games under lights. I think the conditions are completely different. We can use the advantage from our first two games for an advantage on Saturday,’ said Broad, whose side could effectively be out of the tournament if they lose the match.
‘We’ve got young guys performing at this level with experienced guys as well. We’ve got two group games left and we are confident we can work with those because we know what T20 is like,’ said Broad.
‘They have the danger-men of Amla and De Villiers but we will be smart and we know if we play the way we did today we have a fantastic chance of winning it.’
South Africa coach Russell Domingo said that there were several areas to improve, knowing it will not be easy against England.
‘We know we’ve got to beat England in the next game to try and progress. If we do that it might still come down to run rate. They are a dangerous side. We try and do things maybe we shouldn’t have done. That’s always going to be danger in these types of games,’ said Domingo.
He also criticised the fans of the Proteas.
‘We are a strange cricket nation,’ said Domingo.
‘If we win three close games, people say we are peaking at the wrong time. If we win two close games people say we are playing badly.’
-With New Age input
