Australia and South Africa face off for top-of-the-table clash

On Wednesday, Chloe Tryon and Marizanne Kapp were on the opposite sides of the Holkar Stadium. Tryon was lofting throwdowns inside out from the practice nets towards the main pitch while Kapp was taking some high catches on the other side of the ground. Tryon and Kapp were on the same side and made vital contributions in the only ODI South Africa have won against Australia. They could once again be key in South Africa's last league game of the Women's World Cup, against the same opponents.

This is a top-of-the-table clash. Australia are yet to lose a game, on 11 points, while South Africa are on 10. The winner on Saturday will go to Navi Mumbai for the semi-final against India, while the loser will head to the Guwahati semi-final, where England will be waiting.

An Australia vs South Africa fixture has been an anomaly in women's cricket. Before they played a multi-format series at the start of 2024, both the teams had last played a bilateral series in 2016 (only ODIs). Their meetings have often been restricted to ICC tournaments, where Australia have emerged victorious every single time - until the T20 World Cup semi-final last year.

In the ODI World Cup in 2022, South Africa had done well to post 271. However, their sloppy fielding - they dropped four catches - meant Australia comfortably aced that chase, with Meg Lanning's century eclipsing Laura Wolvaardt's 90.

This South African unit, though, not only knows how to reach knockouts but also keeps its nerves in check. That was on show in the two chases in Visakhapatnam in this World Cup, where they hunted down 252 against India despite being 81 for 5, and then chased 233 against Bangladesh from 78 for 5. This is not to say that only the lower order has fired for them. As many as five South Africa batters have scored 150 or more in the competition.

However, Australia could pose a completely different challenge to them on Saturday. There are question marks over Alyssa Healy's fitness, but Australia have shown they can line up strongly even without her. One thing that Australia promise is being relentless. They keep coming hard and offer little respite, be it with bat or ball. Annabel Sutherland will be crucial to their all-round excellence: she has been superb with both bat and ball in the tournament so far, while being supported by the spin battery.

Australia are dominant. However, they will know that South Africa are a team with pedigree, as recent ICC tournaments show. At stake is not just the top spot in league standings but a semi-final in Navi Mumbai on a truer batting surface than Guwahati (plus an extra day in hand before a knockout match).

Australia WWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa WWWWW

South Africa have been quite good against legspin in the last two years. Since the start of 2023, their top five averages 44.76 against that style of bowling. This is telling, because only Pakistan have faced more legspin bowling in this time (917) than South Africa (883). Australia average more (47.09) against legspin but their top five has faced only 491 such deliveries. Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt all average over 58 against legspin in this period. Brits and Luus also score quite quickly, and only have two dismissals each against legspin.

On Saturday, they will be faced with one of the most economical bowlers at this World Cup in Alana King. She has six wickets so far, but her X-factor has been the control she affords Australia in the non-powerplay overs. Against England, she was at her stingy best, which allowed other bowlers to pick up wickets from the other end. Australia also have another legspinner in Georgia Wareham, who has three wickets in the two matches she played when they rested Sophie Molineux. King has eight wickets in four ODIs and averages 13.25 versus South Africa. Before the Ashes where she took a five-for, her best bowling figures (4 for 26) came last year against South Africa.

Alyssa Healy did a few rounds of the outfield before a half hour batting stint in the enclosed nets. Tahlia McGrath said Australia are taking it day by day with their captain, who missed the previous game with a minor calf strain. Beth Mooney did her wicketkeeping drills before nets on Friday. Is that an indication Australia don't want to risk Healy before the semi-final?

Australia (probable): 1 Georgia Voll, 2 Phoebe Litchfield, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Annabel Sutherland, 5 Beth Mooney (wk), 6 Ashleigh Gardner, 7 Tahlia McGrath (capt), 8 Sophie Molineux, 9 Alana King, 10 Kim Garth, 11 Megan Schutt

South Africa are one of the two teams to use all 15 players in the squad. They could bring back seamer Masabata Klaas instead of offspin-allrounder Nondumiso Shangase against Australia. They could also bring back Anneke Bosch, who scored 44 in South Africa's only ODI win over Australia and also scored an unbeaten 74 against them in the T20 World Cup semi-final last year.

South Africa (probable): 1 Laura Wolvaardt (capt), 2 Tazmin Brits, 3 Sune Luus, 4 Annerie Dercksen, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Karabo Meso (wk), 7 Chloe Tryon, 8 Nadine de Klerk, 9 Nondumiso Shangase/Masabata Klaas, 10 Ayabonga Khaka, 11 Nonkululeko Mlaba

A fresh pitch will be used and this one will also be a black-soil surface. But a day out from the contest it had a lot of barren patches and very little green grass on it. Indore will be hot and humid, but there is a spell of thunderstorm in forecast in the afternoon. However, similar weather was in forecast for the last game on Wednesday, but rain did not make an appearance. Friday morning in the city was cloudy before Australia trained under the hot afternoon sun.

Stats and trivia

• Both Marizanne Kapp and Megan Schutt have 38 wickets in ODI World Cups. Only Lyn Fullston (39) and Jhulan Goswami (43) are ahead in the list of most wickets in the competition

"We've been here for six weeks now. The fact that it's South Africa doesn't change much from our prep. We've been pretty consistent with how we prepare for teams. So, we looked at South Africa in detail this morning. We match up pretty well and are pretty thorough in our plans. Even though we haven't played a lot against them, we feel as though we're really well planned and prepared."
Tahlia McGrath on Australia's prep after not playing South Africa frequently

"They are the best team in the world, it is very difficult to beat them. You have to do the basics really well. The team that does the basics better for longer and stays in control for longer becomes successful. Even when they were in difficult situations, they found a way to put the other team under pressure. Just doing the basics well and sticking to what we do well should give us the best chance."
Anneke Bosch on what it takes to beat Australia