South Africa’s Klaasen in race to be fit for Australia clash

Captain Bavuma vows not to take their injury-hit opponents lightly

South Africa are sweating on the fitness of powerful middle-order batter Heinrich Klaasen for their Champions Trophy Group B fixture against Australia on Tuesday as captain Temba Bavuma vowed not to take their injury-hit opponents lightly.

South Africa cruised to a 107-run victory over Afghanistan in their tournament opener, and come up against an Australian outfit that successfully chased 352 with 15 balls to spare to beat England by five wickets in their first game.

Klaasen missed the opener with an elbow injury, and is in a race against time to play in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

"We still have to assess his fitness, he will practice today and then the medical team will make a decision accordingly," Bavuma told reporters on Monday.

Australia are missing three frontline bowlers in Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc, and were carted around the park by England on Saturday before their vaunted batting line-up saved the day.

With the top two teams in each pool advancing to the semi-finals, the victor of Tuesday’s clash in Rawalpindi will have one foot in the knockout rounds.

"Any Australian outfit that comes together for an ICC event, you would never take them lightly," Bavuma said. "Yes, they are missing some bowlers in their attack, but they still have enough to be successful.

"Within any team there are opportunities (to exploit) and maybe this (Australia's bowlers) is one of them. But we won’t take them lightly."

Bavuma added that batting second does appear to be easier in the tournament so far, and with dew prevalent in Rawalpindi to make life difficult for the bowlers under lights, it could be another vital toss to win.

"We were training yesterday and there was a considerable amount of dew compared to other venues. It looks a good wicket though and it should be another day where there are runs," he said.

South Africa have had plenty of disappointment at ICC tournaments in the past, but Bavuma said that, as ever, they believe they have the personnel to be successful in this one.

"We are quite bullish about our chances. Confidence is good, we are quite optimistic about how far we can go in this competition," he said.