T20 World Cup: How the Proteas can qualify for the semi-finals

South Africa’s Proteas face England in a key T20 World Cup game in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, with the first ball to be bowled at 4pm.

Earlier in the day Australia and the West Indies clash.

In both matches there is plenty on the line. A place in the semi-finals is at stake, with one of South Africa and England to miss out.

England will qualify as the group winner.

Here are the permutations then of what needs to happen for either South Africa or Australia to advance.

• South Africa will be eliminated if they lose to England and Australia beat West Indies
• If South Africa win against England and Australia lose their last game, then South Africa will qualify in second place in Group I
• If both Australia and South Africa lose, then the margins of defeat will determine which team ends up with a higher NRR (net run rate): for example, if Australia, chasing 161, lose by 20 runs, then South Africa can lose by no more than three runs (chasing 161) to be ahead of Australia on run-rate.
• If Australia score 160 and win by 10 runs, South Africa will have to win by at least 32 runs (if posting the same score as Australia) to finish with a better NRR than them. Since the Proteas play the second game on Saturday, they will know what they need to do to qualify.
• While Australia’s NRR has improved significantly, even if they beat West Indies by 100 runs, they will need England to lose by around 43 runs to top the group.

Courtesy S Rajesh, stats editor of ESPNcricinfo