LONDON — Not for the first time in the Champions Trophy, South Africa are contemplating having to start their fire without the spark provided by the world’s best fast bowler.
But the stakes are significantly higher on Wednesday — when push comes to shove in the semifinal against England at the Oval — than when Dale Steyn missed South Africa’s first two group matches because of a side strain.
South Africa have played competitive, but not dominant, cricket to make it this far and a player of Steyn’s calibre could be vital to their cause.
But he is a doubtful starter, with stiffness in the groin that prevented him from training on Sunday and restricted him to light duty on Monday. His involvement in Tuesday’s session was limited to working with physiotherapist Brandon Jackson.
"He’s got a few niggles, which is very worrying," AB de Villiers said on Tuesday. "But we’re going to do all we can to get him on the park.
"He’s close to 100% and he’s running around, but we didn’t want to run him too much today because we know he’s one of the best in the world and he’s got the skill to just rock up and do the business.
"We’ve won games without him and with him. But it’s a big knock-out game and there will be a lot of pressure around, a lot of hype.
"Not having him in the side will be big for us, but we’re playing good cricket and we’re confident we can beat England without Dale. I don’t believe we’re lost without him."
Steyn was not part of South Africa’s six-wicket loss to India in Cardiff, nor their 67-run victory over Pakistan at Edgbaston. His first match of the tournament was the rain-hit tie with the West Indies in Cardiff on Friday. He was fast and furious in six overs in which he took 2/33 and claimed the catch that removed Kieron Pollard to seal a result that put the Proteas in the semifinals on the basis of their superior net run rate.
South Africa have options if Steyn does not make the grade. They could replace him with Rory Kleinveldt, play an extra spinner in Aaron Phangiso — every team that has played at the Oval in the tournament have picked at least two slow bowlers — or select Farhaan Behardien or Alviro Petersen as an additional batsman.
England too have had an awkward build-up to the match, what with Graeme Swann battling a calf injury and Tim Bresnan not training on Tuesday to be with his heavily pregnant wife. Not to mention the bad smell of ball tampering that is hanging around their attack because of their ability to obtain reverse swing earlier than usual in an innings.
"If they are doing something funny with the ball, then it’s definitely a concern, but we’ve got no proof of that," De Villiers said.
That much is true, as is the fact that the ball was changed halfway through Sri Lanka’s innings in the only match England have lost in the tournament. So far.
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