South Africa face uphill task vs West Indies

Southampton, June 9 (IANS) After three consecutive defeats, South Africa will eye their first win of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 when they face West Indies at the Hampshire Bowl, here on Monday. After a below par show so far, the Proteas desperately need a win to stay in contention for a spot in the semi-finals.

West Indies on the other hand looked slightly better after a win and a loss from their two games. The Jason Holder-led Carribean side kicked-off their campaign on a convincing note with an impressive seven wicket win over Pakistan before suffering a narrow 15 loss to Australia.

The Proteas lost their all three encounters against England, Bangladesh and India. The pacer's performance in their six wicket loss to India must be heartening for skipper Faf du Plessis and the team management, but it's the batsmen who need to step-up against a good looking West Indies pace attack.

So far, nothing seems to work well for South Africa as pacer Dale Steyn has been ruled out due to injury while Lungi Ngidi is also unfit for the game on Monday.

South Africa have plenty to discuss about their inconsistent performance with the bat and their openers - Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla will have to surely fire against the Windies. However, their middle order looks decent and the lower order has also chipped in with runs. The Proteas now needs to play fearless and attacking cricket.

Meanwhile, the Windies will look to rise up from their narrow defeat to Australia, a game which was under their control.

While their aggressive opening bowling in the first two matches have impressed everyone and if it happens again, it could be another threat for the Proteans as their openers have failed to fire. It was a poor shot selection by the Carribean batsmen in their run-chase against Australia, which cost them the match.

However, having won their opening fixture and pushing closer to victory against Australia, they will be the favourites in Monday's game. South Africa, however, have a 4-2 advantage over West Indies in World Cup games.

Squads:

West Indies: Jason Holder (Captain), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Shai Hope (wicket-keeper), Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Oshane Thomas

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (Captain), Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock (wicket-keeper), Hashim Amla, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, JP Duminy, Dwaine Pretorius, Beuran Hendricks, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir, Tabraiz Shamsi