When we played South Africa in the first round of the tournament, I remember predicting that we would be meeting them one more time.

That's exactly what's happening, with the Proteas pitted against us in the semifinals.

It's going to be a tough match, with no second chance to redeem oneself. The whole team has been waiting for the semifinals, and it seems like an eternity since we played our last Super Eight game against New Zealand.

The key to winning against South Africa is getting their openers out early.

Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers have the ability to take on the opening bowlers with a lot of aggression, and once they get going, they give a tremendous platform for Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis to build on. The biggest plus for the South Africans is the fact that they bat really deep.

They have plenty to multi-talented players, and the attacking batting of Mark Boucher, Andrew Hall and Shaun Pollock allow the top order to take risks.

They back themselves to chase down targets, and we know that after ending up on the losing side after scoring 434. The weaker suit for the South Africans has been their bowling.

Makhaya Ntini has not been in the best form, and Shaun Pollock too looks like he is struggling.

Sameness in attack

There is also a sameness about their seam-dependent attack, and once the first few overs are through, there tends to be a sameness that suits the opposition.

Should they bat first today, they will feel the absence of a spinner, something that has cost them a couple of games already.

However, we respect the fact that they are a quality one-day side, which has won a lot of games in the recent past. They have nothing to lose tomorrow, and will come hard at us.

At present, we are completely focused on our game and how to play to our full ability.

Our batting has been really outstanding so far, with Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist providing the rest of us the ideal platform to keep attacking.

Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson too look in real good shape, and it will take a superlative bowling performance from South Africa to contain these guys on a real batsman-friendly St Lucia wicket.

Grief for the bowlers

We saw the wicket on Monday, and it was hard, flat and full of grief for the bowlers! It might slow down as the game progresses, but it looks like a good one-day track.

An Australia-South Africa semifinal always brings back memories of Edgbaston 1999.

There are four guys in the South Africa team from their 1999 World Cup squad, and they will remember that match vividly.

There will be a lot of chat out there in the middle, and also talk about handling pressure.

We will go out there with the message that whenever these two teams have played a pressure game in the World Cup, there has only been one winner. And we would like to keep it that way.

By Ricky Ponting, Gameplan

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