South Africa have the edge in battle of misfiring batting units

Saturday, June 11 2016
Start time 1300 local (1700GMT)

Round Two. All even. Just about.

The Guyana leg of this triangular series resulted in a win for each of the three teams, with South Africa and Australia claiming bonus points. The caravan moves to St Kitts, where South Africa and Australia kick off proceedings on Saturday.

Relations between both countries have improved since the sides last met, after South Africa agreed to play a Day-Night Test in Adelaide in November after initially rejecting the idea. It's only fitting that on the field, they are battling under lights at the moment, with South Africa having the upper hand.

After being run down by Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard in the tournament opener, South Africa surged back to humble Australia, who just two days earlier had brought West Indies down to earth.

Bowling has been South Africa's stronger suit thus far, with Kagiso Rabada and Imran Tahir, in particular, excelling in dual roles of attacking and containing. That has meant time on the bench for Morne Morkel, although he is likely to force his way in at some stage.

Australia's attack has been equally impressive. After restricting West Indies to under 120, they dismissed South Africa for 189. Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood have been misers and their two spinners - Nathan Lyon and Adam Zampa - have worked well together. That leaves both teams with concerns over their batting.

South Africa's tail was exposed too early in both matches and while Australia were untested in their first outing, they fell apart against quality seam and spin in their second. Some of that may come down to conditions, however. Providence's slow, spinner-friendly surface made for slow scoring rates and a scant boundary count, but that should change with change in venue.

Both line-ups will want to work on partnership-building in what could be an important match in deciding who holds the advantage before they take on the hosts.

(last five completed games most recent first)

Australia LWLWL
South Africa WLWWW

Faf du Plessis' recovery from a finger injury and Dean Elgar's calls up means there's that much more pressure on JP Duminy to perform. Duminy has not scored an ODI half-century in eight innings, since July 2015 against Bangladesh. He has had starts in both innings in the tournament, but uncertainty outside offstump has cost him.

Unlike Duminy, Australia's captain Steven Smith hasn't managed to get into double figures in either of his innings so far. Smith has been out lbw on both occasions while shuffling across his stumps to play through the onside. He will want to get back to the kind of form he was in against India earlier in the year, when he hit a century and a fifty, along with two scores in the forties.

After resting Mitchell Starc from their first meeting with South Africa on Tuesday, Australia will be keen to unleash him here. The changing conditions could mean space for only one of Zampa or Lyon, with Nathan Coulter-Nile and Josh Hazlewood forming part of the pace attack.

Australia: (probable) 1 David Warner, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Steve Smith (capt), 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Nathan Coulter-Nile, 10 Adam Zampa/Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood

Rilee Rossouw's injury should pave way for du Plessis' return at No. 3 even though Dean Elgar has been called-up as a replacement. South Africa are unlikely to field three specialist spinners again. That would leave them with a choice between Aaron Phangiso, the left-arm spinner, and Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm wrist spinner. They may opt for a holding spinner in Phangiso if Morkel gets a game. Shamsi could yet find a place if Kyle Abbott plays.

South Africa: (probable) 1 Hashim Amla, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 AB de Villiers (capt), 5 JP Duminy, 6 Farhaan Behardien, 7 Wayne Parnell 8 Kagiso Rabada, 9 Morne Morkel/Kyle Abbott, 10 Aaron Phangiso/Tabraiz Shamsi, 11 Imran Tahir

The biggest difference between Warner Park and Providence is the size. Smaller boundaries are likely to mean more big hits, although a livelier surface could bring the pacers into play a lot more than they did in Guyana. The rain threat from Guyana has been reduced to next to nil, although humidity levels could test the players' fitness.

"I just thought we didn't pick the ball out of the spinners hand. It's just the basics of batting. We needed to be a bit more patient, maybe. We talked about adapting, we've talked about partnerships. Probably we didn't do any of those things the other night."
Australia's stand-in coach Justin Langer