South Africa did reasonably well at the T20 World Cup in 2021. They held eventual champions Australia to a tight finish, and beat West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and England to finish level on points with England and Australia, only to miss out on a semi-final berth on net run rate. Historically, they have never done well at the men’s T20 World Cup: their best results have been the semi-finals appearances of 2009 and 2014.

However, this time in Australia, South Africa will begin as one of the favourites. In Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, and Dwaine Pretorius, they have reasonable depth in their pace attack, while Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi are as capable a Twenty20 spin pair as any. Aiden Markram’s bowling adds balance to that.

In Markram, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Rilee Rossouw, South Africa have a formidable set of hitters to choose from. At the helm is Temba Bavuma, to provide solidity at the top of the order. Bringing in Marco Jansen might have added variety to this formidable squad, especially on hard pitches, but South Africa are happy to back their specialists.

South Africa will begin their tournament with a match against the table toppers from Group B in the first round in Hobart. They will then play Bangladesh in Sydney, India in Perth, and Pakistan in Sydney. They will round off their Super 12s phase with a match against the runners-up of Group A.

T20 World Cup 2022, South Africa schedule: Fixture list and match timings

(All timings are in local time)

1st match, South Africa v winner of Group B, October 24, Bellerive Oval, Perth, 7pm
2nd match, South Africa v Bangladesh, October 27, Sydney Cricket Ground, 2pm
3rd match, South Africa v India, October 30, Perth Stadium, Perth, 7pm
4th match, South Africa v Pakistan, November 3, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, 7pm
5th match, South Africa v runners-up of Group A, November 6, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 10:30 am