How do they look?
On paper, South Africa have a squad that is well balanced, with in-form batters throughout the order, three seam-bowling allrounders, three spin options, and two out-and-out quicks. On the field, it hasn't always gone according to plan.
South Africa's ODI record since the last World Cup is poor (see below) and they have not had much match time together thanks to a packed international and league schedule. That explains the dip in results in bilateral cricket but whether that still matters, in the ever-transient world of modern cricket, remains to be seen.
What they have had is recent experience in Pakistan, thanks to the mini tri-series, although they lost both matches. They would have also benefited from a week's worth of acclimatising and training in the same city they kick off their Champions Trophy campaign in, Karachi. In a group where they play one team as severely out of form as them, England, and another hit by several absentees, Australia, South Africa will see the semi-finals as the first target.
Who are their first-round opponents?
Feb 21: South Africa vs Afghanistan, Karachi
Feb 25: South Africa vs Australia, Rawalpindi
Mar 1: South Africa vs England, Karachi
Best XI
1. Temba Bavuma, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Rassie van der Dussen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 David Miller, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Lungi Ngidi 11 Tabraiz Shamsi
Rest of the squad: Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Corbin Bosch, Wiaan Mulder
Players(s) to watch
Heinrich Klaasen has the second-best strike rate among batters who have scored 150 or more runs since the last World Cup and is enjoying some of the best form of his career. He has brought up four successive eighty-plus scores, all against Pakistan, in ODI cricket in his last five matches and is responsible for injecting energy into the middle order. With a strong top order, Klaasen is expected to bat with as much freedom as he wants, and he'll hope South Africa have the attack to back that up.
Keep a special eye on Lungi Ngidi and Tabraiz Shamsi, who were part of the matches in the tri-series leading up to the Champions Trophy and will need to find their confidence quickly.
Key stats
South Africa have lost six ODIs in a row ahead of the Champions Trophy. Their longest losing streak is ten matches.
Recent ODI form
In a word: poor. Since the 2023 ODI World Cup, South Africa have won only four out of 14 ODIs and lost three out of four bilateral series, including their first whitewash at home. That's the joint-worst record of all participating teams. But there is a reason for these results: South Africa have not been able to field full-strength ODI teams in any of these matches, owing to league clashes, or the prioritisation of other formats. In the last 15 months, bilateral ODI cricket has become an experiment for combinations and new players and not a measure of big-tournament form.
So how will they judge their readiness for that? White-ball coach Rob Walter said he trusts the big players to step up on big occasions, as they did to reach the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup and the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Champions Trophy history
South Africa were winners of the inaugural competition in 1998. Then called the ICC Knockout, the event was organised to raise money for non-Test-playing nations. Since then, South Africa have reached the semi-finals four times (2000, 2002, 2006 and 2013) but suffered group-stage exits in 2004, 2009 (which was played in South Africa) and the most recent tournament in 2017.