South Africa Wary of Fighting Ireland

Kolkata: South Africa will be wary of Ireland's fighting spirit when they seek to nail down a World Cup quarterfinal place on Tuesday.

Ireland have been the most impressive of the non-Test nations, pulling off a shock win over England and testing favourites India and the West Indies before losing.

South Africa, with six points from four games, will be assured of a place in the last eight with a victory while Ireland, with two points from four matches, only have a slim chance of qualifying.

The momentum is currently with South Africa who bounced back strongly to defeat India by three wickets in a tense finish in Nagpur on Saturday after losing a close match to England.

"Saturday's win is a massive step forward in the self-belief department for us and we can play with a bit more freedom," South Africa captain Graeme Smith wrote in his column in an Indian newspaper on Monday.

South Africa have shown they have depth in both bowling and batting. Their spinners, Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson and Johan Botha, were superbly backed by pacemen Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in previous games.

The Pakistan-born leg-spinner Tahir, with 11 wickets in three matches, missed the last game due to a fractured left thumb and South Africa have to decide whether to play him against Ireland.

South Africa's batting looked solid against India, especially after Jacques Kallis's return to form with a 69 in Nagpur after contributing just 21 in the first three matches.

"We know South Africa are one of the favourites to win this World Cup. Hopefully, they will relax a bit (after India's match) and give us a chance," said Ireland all-rounder Andre Botha.

"May be they will have a couple of hangovers. We know we have to win the last two games and we are not going to back out. Everyone's up for the challenge," he added.

Ireland not only made India battle for victory with their gritty display, but also gave a scare or two to the West Indies before losing by 44 runs inn Mohali.

Ireland are sweating over the fitness of in-form paceman Trent Johnston who suffered a knee injury against India.

Johnston, who missed the last match, is his team's second-highest wicket-taker with six in three games.

Teams from

South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk (wk), Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien (wk), Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson, Andrew White, Ed Joyce.

Pitch & conditions
Batsmen are likely to dominate the proceedings at the Eden Gardens as the pitch offers even bounce. There will be something in it for the bowlers as the match progresses but they need to keep a tidy line and length.

Stats & trivia

• In the first game to be played at the Eden Gardens, the largest cricket stadium in India, South Africa will take on Ireland, who are fast dismissing the 'minnow' tag associated with them.
• Once boasting a seating capacity of 130,000 (1987 World Cup), the renovation cost them not only half the seating capacity but also the marquee India vs England encounter because the stadium was not ready in time.
• The only time South Africa faced Ireland in a World Cup (Super Eights, 2007), they passed the revised D/L target with seven wickets to spare.
• AB de Villiers with 318 runs at an astonishing average of 106 and strike rate of 111 is third in the run scorers' chart after Indian openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag.
• The O'Brien brothers (Kevin and Niall) are the top scorers for Ireland with 164 runs and 138 runs respectively, with Ed Joyce (136 runs) close behind.

Head-to-head

• Total played : 2
• South Africa won : 2
• Ireland won : 0

Match facts
Tuesday March 15, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 14:30 local (09:00 GMT)