It will be the third meeting between the two teams in less than a year, with South Africa still searching for their first victory over their neighbours.

Namibia stunned the much-fancied Proteas with a four-wicket win in a one-off T20 International in October last year, before producing another upset a week ago – this time beating their southern neighbours by 18 runs in the opening match of the tri-series.

Gerhard Erasmus and Bjorn Fortuin - Cricinfo

The Proteas will no doubt feel they are a much better team than the one that produced those two below-par performances. Tour captain Bjorn Fortuin says South Africa now has to turn that belief into action as they fight to secure their place in Sunday’s final.

“I wouldn't say there's too much of a psychological block. Obviously, we want to do fairly well and put in a good performance going into the business end of the series,” said Fortuin.

“But in saying that, on both occasions, I do believe that we were beaten by the better team, for various reasons, whether it be the intensity just being higher than ours or them adjusting to conditions and knowing what to do in those conditions better than we did.

“So, there's no excuses for those losses and we'll be looking to rectify that, not only to put in good performances, but to have some good momentum going into the last couple of matches.”

Fortuin also highlighted the quality within the Proteas squad, pointing to the likes of Duan Jansen, Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-Dré Pretorius as players capable of changing a game in the blink of an eye.

He says the challenge now is for the rest of the squad to follow their lead and produce match-winning contributions of their own.

Duan Jansen - Cricinfo

“Yeah, obviously, it's a little bit different with different guys, though Brevis and Lhuan-Dré, they are exceptional players and some of the best ball strikers going around in world cricket at the moment,” Fortuin added.

“So, those are the sort of standards that are expected of them when they do put in those performances. It's not much of a surprise to the group because we know that's what they're capable of, not just against associate nations, but against some of the best in the world as well.

“So, it's nice to see guys stand up at those standards, but it's also nice Bashir coming into the setup and getting a taste of international cricket and sort of putting their hands up and putting in game-breaking performances as well.

Lhuan-Dré Pretorius - Cricinfo

“It's nice to see guys stand up at different times of the game, it's nice to see different guys stand up as a whole and hopefully we can continue with the good momentum and putting good team performances as well.”

With a place in the final on the line, the Proteas will have little room for error. They will need to adapt quickly to the Windhoek conditions and, most importantly, find a way to finally get the better of a Namibia side that has caused them plenty of frustration in recent meetings.

Friday’s match between Namibia and South Africa at the Namibia Cricket Ground is scheduled to start at 14:00.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport