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Proteas eye Super 8 rotation: Nortje, Maphaka set for UAE clash?
Cape Times
|February 16, 2026
THE Proteas' emphatic seven-wicket victory over New Zealand has given coach Shukri Conrad the freedom to rotate his squad for Wednesday's ICC T20 World Cup clash against the United Arab Emirates.
The T20 World Cup runners-up in Barbados two years ago, have effectively qualified for the Super 8s already with a full house of six points from three matches, and could even know their fate before the toss against the UAE.
An Afghanistan win over the UAE today (starts 7.30am) will see the Proteas progress to the next stage.
An UAE victory will keep the desert nation in the hunt for the playoffs on a potential four points along with New Zealand, but the Proteas run-rate (1.477) is far superior to any team in Group D at the moment.
Conrad will, therefore, have the flexibility to give a couple of bench-warmers an opportunity to stretch their legs in case they might be needed later in the competition.
Seamers Anrich Nortje and Kwena Maphaka, along with all-rounder Jason Smith, have yet to feature at this tournament, while George Linde only played the thriller against Afghanistan.
This story is from the February 16, 2026 edition of Cape Times.
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