South Africa captain Aiden Markram warned his side against under-estimating the United States ahead of their T20 World Cup showdown, claiming the Americans are "not a small team anymore".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Co-hosts USA stunned the sport by beating former champions and Asian powerhouse Pakistan in the first-round group stage, a result which helped propel the Americans into the elite Super Eights second stage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"They have been really good. A lot of people will say 'smaller nation', but they're not and they've proved that they're not anymore," said Markram.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"So, we're going to 100 per cent have to be on our best game for things to go well, but I'm excited for that challenge."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With 12 of the original 20 nations eliminated, the United States are riding a wave of confidence into the Super Eights.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Two-time winners West Indies and defending champions England complete their second round group.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
India, Australia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh comprise the other pool.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
South Africa finished their opening group campaign with a perfect four wins in four games but they rode their luck to maintain a 100 per cent record.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
After bowling out Sri Lanka for just 77 and claiming a six-wicket victory, the Proteas edged the Netherlands by four wickets in pursuit of just 104. At one stage, they were teetering at 12-4.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
They then squeezed past Bangladesh by only four runs before avoiding a seismic shock by breaking Nepal hearts in a knife-edge one-run win.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In common with many sides, the South Africans struggled for runs in the three games they played in New York.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
However, even in the more batsman-friendly environment of the Caribbean they could only muster 115 against Nepal, their best total so far.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- 'Out of jail' -
\r\nOnly David Miller, with 101 runs over four innings, has managed to break into three figures for the tournament.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He is the lone South African in the top 20 run-getters.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Opener Quinton de Kock, his country's all-time leading scorer in the format with 2,389 runs, has only 48 at this World Cup with a best score of 20, in his four visits to the crease.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Markram has contributed only 31 runs at an average of less than eight.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Still striving for that perfect game," admitted Markram of his team's shortcomings with the bat.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Of the bowlers, Anrich Nortje has shone with a tournament second-best nine wickets with a top return of 4-7.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Our bowlers have been really good for us and potentially bailed us out of jail once or twice. But it's understandably so," added Markram.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Conditions have been quite tough for us with the bat. Now it's a fresh start for us. Specifically, if you speak as a batting group, we get the chance to get new conditions, hopefully slightly more batting friendly for us."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The USA team have a South African in their line-up in left-arm fast-bowling all-rounder Shadley van Schalkwyk.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Cape Town native studied at the same school as former Proteas star Jacques Kallis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Van Schalkwyk, 35, has become hard to miss at the World Cup as he superstitiously wears the same red, white and blue socks for every match.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I think he has like maybe four or five pairs of those socks to be honest with you," said US batsman and stand-in skipper Aaron Jones.<\/p>\r\n\r\n