ENG vs SA | Temba Bavuma urges Proteas to find 'extra five per cent' to sail through to semi-finals

South Africa were not among favorites to qualify for the semi-finals as they were stacked in a group that appeared tough to overcome from the outset. However, they were the side in form and their resilience and ability to soak pressure while delivering in crunch situations have driven them to the verge of qualifying for the final four.

They started impressively against Australia but their in-form bowling attack could not limit the damage of batsmen’ failures and they suffered a defeat. Now, they face a big last game against the best team of the tournament—England and they are pushed against the wall to win the game while maintaining a steady run rate better than Australia.

Considering what is at stake for the Proteas, their skipper Temba Bavuma wants his side to find ways to produce “extra five per cent in all our departments” in order to have their noses in front of the Australians.

Australia are slated to play West Indies in the first game of the day and Bavuma emphasized that having the result of that game in front of them before turning up against England will be an advantage for the Proteas. He said that it will give them proper understanding of the situation and how should they go about it

"We want to play our best cricket tomorrow. It's just to find a way to add an extra five per cent in all our departments. It'll just be us trying to find a way to improve in every department. I think the bowling has been really good. The fielding, as well, has been really good. The batting, as well. But let's just find a way to just improve in every department of our game," Bavuma said.

"What's happening with Australia-West Indies, what helps us is that their game happens before our game, so we'll kind of get a better sense or understanding as to how we need to approach the England game," Bavuma said. "If Australia win, then it's going to come down to net run rate. We'll have an opportunity somewhere along our game to control our net run rate or alter our approach."

South Africa have come this far in the tournament purely on the basis of team performance. They have found batting heroes in Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller at different times while the bowling attack consisting of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have been in the batsmen’s mind repeatedly.

Bavuma also highlighted that adapting to slower and lower conditions at Sharjah will be a key element that will pave the way for their success in the game. Proteas are coming in from Abu Dhabi having played their last game at the pitch that aided fast bowling and Rabada ripped through the Bangladesh batting order. The conditions at Sharjah is expected to be completely different and the Proteas will have to be at their best in adapting to the new conditions.

"Every game we speak about going out and fighting it out as a team. We don't leave it to individuals," Bavuma said. "We don't rely on individual brilliance to bring it home for the team, but it's all about us as a team giving everything that we've got. Tomorrow it won't be any different. We'll still be showing the same character, the same fight that we've shown while in this tournament."

"We've had guy like Rassie van der Dussen go in earlier because we know if he has the opportunity to face a considerable amount of balls, he's a guy that can really put a bowling attack under pressure. You have a guy like Reeza Hendricks, as well, who's come off good recent form at the top of the order. So trying to utilise that form at its best. For me it's just playing the conditions really. We know within our batting side we need someone to kind of hold things on one end to allow all our big hitters, if I could say, to get into the game. But that's what we've seen has worked at this World Cup. That's not to say going forward that's going to be our strategy, but for now, that's what we feel is best."

"We knew that the wicket would be on the low side. With the batting, we did take it quite deep, and I guess the learning from that is I guess maybe we'll have to pull the trigger a bit earlier," he said.