Well England have not had a good world Cup, but have done just enough to hang in there.

South Africa on paper have the stronger batting side, England must stop relying on Pietersen if they are going to progress to the semi finals.

England I think have the better bowling, but again Englands bowlers will not have to rely on Flintoff for keeping the runs down, bowling has to be a team effort.

Smith and Kallis are IMO the main players for South Africa, while Pietersen will be important for England, and I think Flintoff will need to fire with the bat for this game, as the England openers are really out of form.

Impossible to predict IMO, should be a great match - also I think the winners of this match will go through to the semi's.
Lets hope for a big crowd to give a great atmosphere to what should be one of the most exciting matches of the WC do far.

Post pre match and match comments here please.

BBC preview click here

"Match starts 1430 BST Tuesday"

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Ern

Despite the fact this is a huge game for us i am not really bothered and can't get excited about it.The whole world cup has just dragged on too long for me and i am rapidly losing interest when i should be getting more excited about the impending semi finals.

I hope my feelings change when the game starts but as it stands i do not care if we get knocked out at present.

Looking forward to the game should be a cracker. If Vaughn wins the toss i hope he uses his brain and bats, don't think England are capable of chasing when the pressure is on. Think i might put a tenner on KP hitting a ton and I think Monty might take a few wickets. Flintoff will need to step up with the bat, I'd open with him. Pollock and Ntini have been poor so far and I think he could take them apart. On paper South Africa are a much stronger team but I think England will win, they will just need a solid team performance.

All englands batsmen(top 6) need to turn up and score 50 plus to win this. We need 350 plus to win V SA. This pitch looks fast and bouncy, so scores will be fairly high despite Vaughan's downplay.Flintoff to open? I think not.

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I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

I agree that England are not good chasers, but is batting first such a good idea on this Bridgetown wicket? It is likely to be pacey and bouncy to start with, something Flintoff and Anderson might want to exploit. Furthermore, Smith will probably opt for Langaveldt in Peterson's place, leaving SA with 6 pace bowlers - Pollock, Ntini, Nel, Langaveldt, Hall & Kallis. I don't think that leaving Peterson for Langeveldt is a very good idea mind you, but if SA do choose an all pace attack, they could be a handful for the first hour or two - by which time the damage could be done. Ntini has not fired so far in this World Cup, but he is bound to bounce back some time and with all the pressure on today could turn out to be just the day.

If you look at their bowling Ntini, Pollock, Nel, Hall, Kallis and Langeveldt who are all fast bowlers and compare our firepower Anderson, Mahmood and Flintoff it looks a bit one sided. It seems we can't afford to pick Plunkett to strengthen our bowling as we need all the batsmen we can get playing. I think we have to bat first as we are too nervy to chase. Hopefully they will be baffled by Panesar.

Pollock has had a poor world cup, nel is wayward, ntini hasn't fired, langvelt is very good but was rested so is perhaps not 100% and kallis and hall are parttimers really. Their attack looks one paced.

We shall see!

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I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

If the pitch has pace and bounce I hope England aren't in a negative mindset in how to combat a possible all out pace attack. If Bell and god forbid Vaughn opens and they let SA's bowlers to settle in a rythm then Englands chance of winning could be over by the tenth over. Vaughn can't produce the goods in one-dayers and he never will, he'll either fail again tonight or make a painstaking 20-30 runs off 60-80 balls. I hope he proves me and a whole nation wrong but i doubt it. In big matches you turn to your champs and they need to get big Freddy into the match straight away. Throw him the ball first up and tell him to rip through the top order and id be telling him to pad up first and belt that ball all over the park.

I think that they will be. That thing prodruding from under his Patka is very baffling. I wonder if it is hair or part of his headgear.

Seriously, I think Vaughan may also have to bowl a bit. I don't think the Bridgetown pitch is going to die as much as Guyana. Moreover BD had 3 frontline spinners who tended to rush the ball through rather more than Panesar does. I agree that he can bowl well here, but can do with some help.

Vaughan has won the toss and decided to bat first. I am not sure that this is the best decision even though South Africa have dropped Ntini in favour of Langeveldt. More interesting is the Kemp for Peterson swap, ostensibly to strengthen the batting; that suggests that the Proteas are a bit nervous.