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Proteas likely to go in unchanged for Aussies

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Dwaine Pretorius (Getty)
Dwaine Pretorius (Getty)

Manchester - The Proteas are likely to go into their final match of the 2019 World Cup against the Australians on Saturday unchanged from the side that beat Sri Lanka a week ago. 

That was the suggestion from skipper Faf du Plessis in Manchester on Friday. 

David Miller has still not recovered from a groin strain and he sat out of Friday's training session at Old Trafford, while Lungi Ngidi is fit but unlikely to be selected. 

"Lungi was fit for the previous game, but we just decided to go with a different balance, so that will probably mean going in with the same team," Du Plessis said. 

There had been talk in the week that the Proteas might opt to go in with two specialist spinners in Imran Tahir and Tabraiz Shamsi. 

Tahir, who is playing his final ODI for South Africa, had said on Thursday that the Old Trafford took more to turn than any other wicket in England and that this would be a good opportunity to field two spinners. 

If Shamsi is picked, however, that would mean one of Chris Morris or Dwaine Pretorius missing out, which is unlikely given that both allrounders took three wickets each against Sri Lanka.

Miller's continued absence will mean another cap for JP Duminy, who will also be playing his final ODI before retirement from the format. 

The interesting development, however, is Ngidi.

Considered a player who was key to any success South Africa would have in England, the 23-year-old has struggled throughout the tournament. 

A hamstring strain after just four overs against Bangladesh in the Proteas' second game of the tournament didn't help, and in total South Africa have gotten just 33 overs out of Ngidi at the competition. 

Play on Saturday starts at 14:30 (SA time). 

Probable SA XI: 

Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis (captain), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, JP Duminy, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Imran Tahir 

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