Proteas ready to counter England’s spinners in World Cup Showdown

It will be the first time these two sides meet since the Proteas’ historic semi-final victory in last year’s T20 World Cup at Newlands in Cape Town.

The conditions expected today in Sharjah will, however, be entirely different to that balmy afternoon under the watch of Table Mountain.

The temperatures in the UAE have consistently hovered around the 40 degrees Celsius mark, while the humidity levels have also peaked.

This has caused the pitch at the Sharjah International Stadium to dry out and has offered the spinners plenty of assistance thus far - as was also seen earlier this month when Afghanistan’s Men’s team spun a web around the Proteas' Men's side to claim a first-ever ODI series win.

England have the advantage of having played their T20 World Cup opener there already against Bangladesh a couple of days ago, while the Proteas faced the West Indies in Dubai.

Heather Knight’s team unleashed a quartet of spinners against Bangladesh, led by ICC No 1 ranked T20 bowler Sophie Ecclestone. The left-arm spinner will be supported by Sarah Glenn’s wrist spin along with Charlie Dean and Linsey Smith.

The four-pronged spin attack are set to bowl the majority of the 20 overs again today, with Dean’s today off-spinners taking care of the PowerPlay.

Proteas opener Tazmin Brits, who made a timely return to form with an unbeaten half-century against the Windies in the tournament opener, claims the South Africans are well prepared and will not allow the English spinners to dictate terms to them.

“I thought that (spin) was going to come from all the teams to be honest because if there’s no pace on the ball, it makes it very difficult to reach the boundaries and some of the fields are actually a bit slower as well, so technically that’s the best way to go, but because of that we are prepping for that so I don’t think there’s lack of that,” Brits said.

“I think this wicket seems even slower than the Dubai wicket that we actually played on.

“But we’ll definitely (have an) attacking (approach). Like I said, the Powerplay is our main thing.

“I think in any team, if you can be very aggressive in the Powerplay, being only two fielders out, I think you stand a good chance to get to those 140s, 150s. So yeah, we'll probably still play our normal game.”

The Proteas have their own spin queen in their artillery too though with Nonkululeko Mlaba delivering a career-best four-wicket haul in the 10-wicket victory over the Windies.

Mlaba has certainly benefited from having new spin bowling coach and former Proteas wrist-spinner Paul Adams as part of the coaching setup.

Adams has given Mlaba the confidence to bowl slower through the air to gain greater purchase off the surface, while still utilising her quicker arm ball as a threat.

Brits certainly feels Mlaba will pose a genuine threat to the English batters.

“I was very happy for her. I think it’s about time that it showcased her talent because she’s got a lot of talent but I don’t think people actually realise what she actually has,” she said.

“She’s a bit of a diamond in the rough here in our team and to get those four wickets, I think I was speechless.

“I think hopefully, continue to the next game, hopefully she has the confidence because sometimes I think she lacks the confidence in herself. And I think that maybe just showed that she actually has the capability.”