South Africa have won the toss and have opted to bat

Right then, it's toss time..

"Hello from Eden Gardens. The skies above are heavy with cloud, but all the covers are now off and stumps have been pitched. Temba Bavuma is out there, looking like he means business," quips our SA correspondent - Telford Vice. "Bavuma is on his way to the middle for the toss," he further adds..

Pitch and weather: There's 36% chance of rain. 65 m square boundaries, 75 m straight boundaries. This is the same wicket that was used for England - Pakistan match. Spinners have had a good time bowling here. Spin will win, reckons Hayden. Going to be tough to score runs as the spinners will get more assistance in the second innings. Captain winning the toss should bat first despite the overcast conditions, reckons Pommie Mbangwa.

PKMandak: Being local I know there will be no rain. But weather will remain gloomy in Kolkata. -- "Thanks for that update."

Warner vs QdK. Marsh vs RvD. Starc vs Jansen. Maxwell vs Markram. Hazlewood vs Rabada. Zampa vs Maharaj. Plenty of battles within a battle. Both the teams have several match-winners. Who will rise to the occasion today though? We shall find out soon. The toss and teams are not far away..

ICYMI - We do have a reserve day for the knockout games and the final. Hence despite the dodgy weather in Kolkata, we are most likely to get a result.

The conditions have been overcast in Kolkata and the weather forecast doesn't look promising, but it isn't raining at the moment and the covers have been peeled off.

Kohli notched up his 50th ODI ton. Rohit became the first batsman to hit 50 sixes in ODI World Cups. Shami completed 50 wickets in World Cups. There were a number of records broken at the Wankhede last evening. Will Eden Gardens live up to the expectations? MSD Dhoni's run-out back in 2019 scarred more than a billion Indian hearts and India took its revenge than 24 hours back. There was another such run-out back in 1999. We all remember, don't we? Do we get to see its revenge as well? Only time will tell..

The Cummins-led side had a botched start. India stung them in humid Chennai and their opponents for today were too hot to handle. But then Australia started a string of wins. Warner and Marsh took off mostly. Hazlewood and Zampa deflated a few sides. Maxwell showed why he is the Big Show. And Australia with seven consecutive wins entered the semis. The five-time world champions found a way like they always do! South Africa despite strong showings have had their discrepancies. The Bavuma-led side have been exposed while chasing. There is a chink in the armour but batting first they have been a completely different beast. They have astoundingly superfluous. Their bowlers also have hit the right straps mostly and Keshav Maharaj has done a commendable job as a spinner.

12:40 Local Time, 07:10 GMT, 12:40 IST:

Preview by Telford Vice

Do not believe. You are not the Boston Red Sox fans who held up signs in the stands demanding their peers "Believe!" during the team's march to the 2003 American League Championship, which they duly clinched by beating the damned New York Yankees.

You are South Africans, and you know better than to put faith in a team who have never reached a men's World Cup final; who more often than not have exited the tournament in tatters.

Believe. You are Australian, and you know that your team have won this thing more than any other: five times out of 12. So why not again?

Welcome to Thursday's second semifinal at Eden Gardens. By the time the match starts the teams will know which of India or New Zealand they will face in the final should they win.

But that is Sunday's challenge. And only a marginally bigger deal than Thursday's. Because almost every match between Australia and South Africa comes pre-loaded with a narrative that quivers with context and is heavy with history.

So it seems wrong that while these teams have clashed seven times in the tournament they have met only twice in the knockout stages. The first time was the epic tied 1999 semifinal at Edgbaston. There was less tension in their 2007 semi in St Lucia, where the contest was all but over once Australia had reduced South Africa to 27/5 inside 10 overs.

Sixteen years is a long time between crunch World Cup games for teams like these, especially as they met six times in the format in little more than the past two months. South Africa won four of those games, but three of them were achieved against depleted opposition. So only the most recent - in Lucknow on October 12 - can be taken seriously.

Or can it? Since South Africa piled up 311/7 and dismissed the Australians for 177 the Aussies have found their mojo well enough to win seven straight matches. The South Africans might not be unhappy with that: the notion of Australia as a weaker, more vulnerable side might do their heads in.

Besides, they've had enough to think about after Temba Bavuma strained a hamstring in the field against Afghanistan in Ahmedabad on Friday. Bavuma's fitness has not been confirmed for Thursday's game, a situation that could affect the South Africans mentally more than in the scorebook.

Bavuma has scored 145 runs in seven innings in the tournament - fewer than any of the other regular batters in the squad - but he is leaned on for his leadership and presence. South Africa won well without him when he missed the games against England and Bangladesh, both at the Wankhede, because of a stomach problem. But they are a calmer, more settled side when Bavuma plays.

The Australians had their own hamstring issue to worry about, but a scan cleared Glenn Maxwell to play. He sustained the injury while pretending to be a monster emerging from a primordial swamp at the Wankhede last Tuesday. That's an interpretation of how Maxwell looked during the death throes of his undefeated 201 off 128 against Afghanistan. It was less an innings than a feat of human excellence and endurance, but much of it was not a pretty sight.

Neither is Eden Gardens easy on the eye. It's a concrete and plastic bowl that gets its magic not from appearance but from ambience. Australia have yet to play here during this tournament, but on November 5 South Africa served as fodder for one of India's nine victories in the league stage. Their bad bowling gifted Virat Kohli a century on his 35th birthday and they crashed to defeat by 243 runs, their worst ever loss in all 668 of their ODIs.

The febrile atmosphere that prevailed that day, and in the streets all around in the days leading up to the match, has been absent this week. Sometimes even Eden Park is just another cricket ground. But, for Australia and South Africa, Thursday's game won't be just another match.

When: November 16, 2023 at 14:00 IST

Where: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

What to expect: As the South Africans limbered up for their training session on Tuesday, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi walked to the middle to have a look at the pitch. While they were talking, Rabada mimicked a left-arm wrist spinner's delivery. Is another Eden Gardens turner in the offing? Thursday's forecast promises a sunny 33 degrees Celsius.

Teams:

Australia

Stand by for the return of Glenn Maxwell, who missed the game against Bangladesh in Pune on Saturday to recover from his superhuman exertion in scoring an undefeated 201 off 128 against Afghanistan at the Wankhede on November 7. Sean Abbott could make way.

Tactics & strategy

The Australians are a team transformed after they lost their first two matches in the tournament, including a 134-run defeat by South Africa in Lucknow on October 12. They haven't been beaten since, reeling off seven victories and looking more like the Aussies of old with each passing win, four of them achieved batting first.

David Warner and Mitchell Marsh were among the top runscorers at the tournament after the league stage with Glenn Maxwell lurking at No. 11. Adam Zampa is the World Cup's leading wicket-taker with 22 strikes at an average of 18.90.

Probable XI: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis, Pat Cummins (capt), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood

South Africa

Marco Jansen is likely to be back, probably at the expense of Andile Phehlukwayo. The likely conditions might mean Tabraiz Shamsi will get a chance to redeem his 1/72, replete with 20 runs in boundaries and eight in wides and no-balls, against India. He could come in for Gerald Coetzee, whose 18 wickets have made him South Africa's highest wicket-taker at any World Cup.

Tactics & strategy

As much as the South Africans will hope their five-wicket win over Afghanistan in Ahmedabad on Friday has put to bed the theory that they aren't as sound chasing as they are setting a target, that presumption will follow them into the match.

Quinton de Kock won't be thinking about equalling Rohit Sharma's record of five World Cup centuries, set in 2019, but another hundred and that's what he'll have done. Keshav Maharaj could be South Africa's trump card on this surface.

Probable XI: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.

Did you know?

- Adam Zampa's bowling average against South Africa, 46.78, is his highest in ODIs against any opponents.

- Lungi Ngidi's average against Australia, 19.52, is the lowest for any current South Africa bowler in ODIs between these teams. Mitchell Marsh's 81.37 is the highest.

- Tabraiz Shamsi has been more successful in ODIs against Australia, in which he has taken 15 wickets at 24.06 in eight matches, than any side except Sri Lanka - against whom he has 16 at 24.75 in nine games.

- Quinton de Kock averages 65.66 at this World Cup, but his overall average in ODIs against Australia is 36.35 - just 8.8 against Glenn Maxwell and 17.7 against Josh Hazlewood.

What they said:

"No, not really. None of our players were playing. So you probably can't draw too many conclusions from that team. But it's part of Australian cricket folklore and history." - Pat Cummins on the 1999 semifinal.

"I feel alright. It's obviously not 100%, so this day becomes important. I'm quite confident, but it's not a unilateral decision." - Temba Bavuma on his hamstring.

Squads:

Australia Squad: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis(w), Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins(c), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Alex Carey, Cameron Green

South Africa Squad: Quinton de Kock(w), Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Lizaad Williams, Reeza Hendricks, Tabraiz Shamsi, Marco Jansen