Aus vs SA preview, ICC CWC 19: Australia eye top spot in dead rubber

Australia's bowling has been highly impressive too with left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc leading from the front and making inroads at crucial junctures of the game to win matches for his team

A top spot in the points tally will be up for grabs for Australia cricket team when they face South Africa cricket team in their last group stage encounter in the ICC World Cup 2019 at the Old Trafford on Saturday.

Check Match 44 (Ind vs SL) Live score, toss updates and match commentary

Australia have played like a champion team and barring the game against India, which they lost while chasing a total in excess of 350, they have dominated all the games and have looked in great touch.

The biggest strength of Australia in this World Cup has been the batting performance of the top three, especially skipper Aaron Finch and David Warner, who are there among the top-10 run-getters in the tournament so far.

Their bowling has been highly impressive too with left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc leading from the front and making inroads at crucial junctures of the game to win matches for his team.

South Africa, on the other hand, will like to forget what has conspired for them in this edition of the showpiece event and play for pride against the mighty Aussies. Their batting, which relies highly on the likes of Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock, has not been consistent, leading to them being knocked out of the competition in the group stage itself.

South Africa's bowling has also not been up to the mark with leading pacer Kagiso Rabada failing to live up to the expectations.

With five points from eight games, South Africa will aim to end their dismal tournament campaign on a high and regain some lost pride.

Australia vs South Africa head-to-head in World Cup 

Both the teams have faced each other on five occasions and Australia have won thrice while South Africa have won once with one of the matches resulting in tei.

Australia vs South Africa playng 11 prediction

Australia playing 11: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon

South Africa playing 11: Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Hashim Amla, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, JP Duminy, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada/Lungi Ngidi, Imran Tahir

Conditions

A narrow band of patchy rain and drizzle is expected early in the morning which will clear away by the time the game starts in the afternoon. Cloud cover is expected for a major part of the day. Teams batting first have won each of the four games played at Old Trafford in this World Cup so far.

ICC World Cup 2019, Match 45: Australia vs South Africa streaming details

Date and Day: July 6, 2019, Saturday.

Place: Old Trafford, Manchester

Time: 6:00 pm IST, 12:30 am local time

The World Cup 2019 Australia vs South Africa match live streaming will be available live on Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 with English Commentary and Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 Hindi HD with Hindi Commentary. The live streaming of the World Cup 2019 Australia vs South Africa will be available on Hotstar.

Squads:

Australia: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Pat Cummins, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Nathan Lyon

South Africa:  Faf du Plessis (c), Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock (wk), 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