Ireland take on South Africa tomorrow morning (03:30 Irish time) at Canberra's Manuka Oval. It will be their third group match of the World Cup. CricketEurope takes a brief look at Ireland's opponents, their key players, and the venue.

South Africa: form guide

ICC ODI ranking: 3rd

Recent ODI form (most recent first): W L W W L W W W L L

In a word, inconsistent. In their three group games so far, the Proteas defeated Zimbabwe by 62 runs, lost heavily to India by 130 runs, then annihilated the West Indies by 257 runs. The Indian match was South Africa's worst-ever World Cup defeat, while the winning margin against the West Indies was the joint-largest in the tournament's history. Swings and roundabouts…

Prior to that, the West Indies were overcome 3-2 in an ODI series at home, but that was preceded by a 4-1 loss away to Australia.

Star men

AB de Villiers: [insert superlatives here]. Probably the most complete batsman in the world, and certainly the world game's form player. Even though the West Indies were bowling absolute garbage at him, the two recent innings of 149 off 44 balls and 162* off 66 balls demonstrated an almost incomprehensible dexterity and brutality. Since November 2013, De Villiers has averaged 80.95 in ODIs, with a strike rate of 122.99. Not without reason, he is ranked #1 in the world.

Hashim Amla: the South Africans also have the world's #2 ODI batsman. In any other team, Amla would be the leading light: an elegant, classy right-hander who averages north of a half-century every time he bats in both Tests and ODIs. He hasn't yet hit top form in this World Cup but still averages 102 (with a scoring rate of 98) in 2015.

Illustrating the powerful depth of the South African batting line-up, Quinton de Kock (12th), Faf du Plessis (19th), and David Miller (23rd) also feature in the top 25 of the ODI ranking table, JP Duminy (31st) already has a century in this World Cup. Rilee Rossouw is a star in the making, too.

Dale Steyn: the world's premier fast bowler for the past decade, Steyn has defied this age of big bats, small boundaries, and ludicrously high scoring to record career analyses that belong to a bygone era. Then again, away swing at 90+mph is always going to be useful. While not quite as formidable in ODIs as in Tests (he is ranked only #3 compared to his perennial #1 status in the longer format), Steyn has still taken 31 ODI wickets at 25.93 since the start of 2014.

Imran Tahir: the best wrist-spinner in the game, a leg-spinner who not only gives it flight in limited-over contexts but also uses his variations with abandon. Tahir is ranked #4 in the world in ODIs and has taken 64 wickets at 19.40 in his career. Easily the South Africans' best bowler of the World Cup so far, he took 3-36 against Zimbabwe, escaped the carnage of the India match, and then mystified the West Indians to take 5-45.
Another South African, Morne Morkel, lurks just outside the top ten (at 12th), while the other specialist bowlers fielded by the Proteas in this campaign figure at 35th (Vernon Philander) and 44th (Wayne Parnell). Kyle Abbott is yet to break into the rankings.

Head to head

The Irish and South Africans have met three times in ODIs, the South Africans winning on all occasions. In the Super Eight stage of the 2007 World Cup, Ireland posted 152 in a reduced-overs match; despite Boyd Rankin removing De Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs, South Africa cruised home.

Then, in another rain-affected match at Stormont later that year, the Irish restricted South Africa to 173-4 from their 31 allotted overs, primarily thanks to Alex Cusack's 3-15. Cusack then starred with the bat, making 36* from no. 6, but was the Irish player to offer much resistance as Vernon Philander's 4-12 secured victory by 42 runs.

The last meeting was at Eden Gardens during the group stage of the 2011 World Cup. Batting first, South Africa stumbled to 117-5 before JP Duminy made 99 from 103 balls, hoisting South Africa to 272-7 from their 50 overs. Morne Morkel and Robin Peterson then claimed three wickets each as the Irish never challenged their target, eventually falling 131 runs short.

The ground

Canberra's Manuka Oval has hosted only six ODIs since its first (Zimbabwe v South Africa in the 1992 World Cup). It then took sixteen years for ODIs to return to Australia's capital (another neutral encounter, between India and Sri Lanka, in 2008), but Canberra has hosted four ODIs since 2013, in addition to this year's Big Bash final. Here are the stats for those last four ODIs:

- 100% of teams win the toss and bat first
- 100% of matches are won batting first
- Average score batting first: 324
- Average runs per over (across both innings): 6.04
- Average runs per wicket: 36.41

Predictions

On a fast-scoring ground where, in recent history, the team batting first has always won, the Irish strategy of chasing may not meet with much success. Indeed, given the strength and class of the South African batting line-up, and given the probable difficulty of chasing against Steyn, Tahir et al, it would be a brave man who chose to insert the Proteas. Yet no matter who bats first, the South Africans possess seven or eight world-class players who should likely prove too strong for the Irish. Minimizing the damage to net run rate may be the most realistic ambition; the Irish, however, have proven pundits wrong before.