With a semifinal spot at stake, South Africa's Warriors and England's Somerset will clash in a make-or-break Champions League Twenty20 cricket match in Bangalore on Wednesday.
After three matches, Warriors are leading the table with four points while Somerset have three.
The winner of Wednesday's contest will emerge as the leader of group, provided South Australia Redbacks lose to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second encounter of the day.
Redbacks have three points while RCB have two with the sides vying for the second semi-final spot. However, rain intervention can change the calculations. An abandonment of the games on Wednesday will mean that Kolkata Knight Riders with four points will go through to the semis along with Warriors.
Led by Johan Botha, the Warriors are just a win away from sealing their semis berth after two wins and one defeat while Somerset, after having lost poorly to RCB on Monday, will have to play to their strength to beat their robust opponents. Warriors were on song, but their winning run came to a halt in a rain-truncated contest against Kolkata that saw Gautam Gambhir's men winning by 22 runs via D/L method.
Warriors will hope that their top oder comes good again. Jon Jon Smuts and Collin Ingram have been amongst the runs. The middle-order batsmen too have chipped in with useful contributions. Ashwell Prince, who impressed with a belligerent 74 against RCB in their opener, will be hoping to be back amongst the runs after two failures.
Warriors have a strong bowling line-up with Lonwobo Tsotsobe and Wayne Parnell forming an effective fast-medium pair. Johan Botha has easily been one of the best spinners in limited overs cricket.
After a dismal show against RCB, Somerset will be seeking to get their act together. Somerset has a very experienced bowling line-up in skipper Alfonso Thomas and Steve Kirby sharing the new ball. Murli Kartik and Roelof van der Merwe could pose problems with the left arm spin.
George Dockrell and Peter Trego, who turned out to be expensive against RCB, will be aiming to bowl in the right areas to keep the Warriors batsmen on a tight leash.
Trego, who conceded 21 runs in an over to Gayle, made up for his disappointment with a fine half century against RCB. Dockrell did reasonable well before Gayle took 19 runs in one over. But Wednesday could be their under the arc lights.
