Pakistan and South Africa have looked the top dogs from Day One. Both won four straight games at the league stage before losing the last game -- the South Africans to neighbours Zimbabwe and the Pakistanis to their brothers from Bangladesh.

In Pakistan's case, the loss was fairly inconsequential because they had beaten Australia and New Zealand, the two other qualifiers in the group, to garner four buffer points in the Super Six. South Africa goofed in relaxing the grip against Zimbabwe and come into the Super Six with only two points they got against India.

South Africa therefore has more at stake in tomorrow's game. They need to win two of the three Super Six games to make absolutely sure of a semi-final berth. Pakistan has to win only oneof its games against South Africa, India, or Zimbabwe to get to the semi-final. South Africa's other opponents in the Super Six will be Australia and New Zealand.

On current form, there is very little to separate the two. The one quality that marks out both teams from the rest of the pack is resilience -- both sides have enormous depth and resolve to fight their way out of early setbacks and tight situations. They did so in several games in the early stages of the tournament.

Both sides bat deep, but their top order looks vulnerable. Saeed Anwar has had a poor tournament and Shahid Afridi has been a wet cracker. The South African opening pair of Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs has not fired either, save for one century partnership against England. The rest of their top order has not made too many runs either save for an odd knock by Kallis and Inzamam.

But down the line they have fighters. Pakistan's Moin Khan is the man to pick if you want someone to bat for your life. South Africa's Lance Klusenerhas been hard to contain, let alone dismiss, in this tournament.

It's the bowling which is the key to this game. Both sides have the best artillery in the business -- Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar are currently matchless in the business. Well, almost. Messrs Pollock and Donald are no mean customers themselves. The South African back up of Kallis and Klusener is marginally better than the Paki back-up of Azhar Mahmood and Abdul Razzaq. A double quartet with little to separate them.

But where Pakistan score is with the classy off-spin of Saqlain Mushtaq. The Proteas are cipher in the spin department. That could make the difference. On the other hand, they will go into the match at least 25-30 runs to the good on account of their fielding.

It promises to be a magnificent contest -- the magical Akram versus the cerebral Donald, the lightning Shoaib Akhtar versus the wily Shaun Pollock. But there will be one no contest -- the fielding of Jonty Rhodes versus the fielding of Inzamam-ul Haq.