Pakistan and SA meet in key game :

Losers will tumble out

Elmo Rodrigopulle Reporting from England

The two losers, South Africa and Pakistan will take the field firing all cylinders and looking for victory when they play a Group 'B' match at Edgbaston in Birmingham in a day/night game today.

This is a sudden death game and the losers will be out of the picture and their third game will be of no avail and they will do well to pack their bags for an early flight back home.

A team could afford to lose one of the three games, but they must hit back strongly winning the remaining two games to make progress in the tournament and have a crack at the trophy.

At the time of writing, there I a bit f uncertainty on whether the leader of the South Africa bowling pack the threatening Dale Steyn would be fit to play.

With Mornie Morkel out, the South African camp must be straining to have Steyn fit to take the field. The Edgbaston wicket played well in the Australia- England game and the side winning the toss and if they hope to be in the frame, must not hesitate to bat first and in doing so the batsmen must bat with responsibility and post a formidable score.

A formidable score will u pressure on the side batting second, because they will be forced to maintain a certain run rat and in attempting that will have to take the risks and if the risks are not calculated, they will be in the land of no return.

The South African batsmen thrust pressure on themselves by allowing India a big score. If their bowlers are not on line and length and they allow the Pakistani batsmen to prosper, then it will not be easy chasing. The South Africans are strong in batting. But their bowlers tend to spray the ball here, there and everywhere and at times nowhere.

Their fielding too was poor and they must tighten their game all round if they are to be concerned at the finish.

As for the Pakistanis who are packed with talent, but their fault is that they rarely play as a team. Individually they are brilliant. But they are found wanting playing as a team.

If they can put right this short coming right they have the fiery pace of Mohamad Irfan, Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz to let fly at the South African batsmen and lure them to defeat. The side doing the basics right and believing in themselves should win this game and keep their chances alive.