Proteas Netball captain Bongiwe Msomi is expected to recover in time from discomfort to face top ranked Australia in the eagerly anticipated World Cup‚ semi-final clash on Saturday afternoon.

Msomi is one of the experienced campaigners in the South African team as he is appearing in her third World Cup and failure to recover will be a huge blow to coach Norma Plummer who relies on her leadership.

She has also accumulated vast international experience by featuring in the English Super League for Surrey Storm and Wasps and for Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Australian Super Netball League.

Msomi was forced off early with discomfort in the 58-47 loss to England on Thursday night but assistant coach Nicole Cusack said after the match that her injury was not serious as initially feared and she should be available to face the Australian Diamonds.

Responding to their 58-47 loss to England‚ Cusack said they suffered their first loss of the competition because the players looked nervous against the hosts who enjoyed massive support from the stands.

“We had a very shaky start to the game‚” Cusack admitted.

“The ladies seemed a bit nervous however we managed to bring it in and composed the girls. We experimented a bit with the team because we needed to give everyone a run ahead of our game against Australia.”

The defeat to England was their first as they started the competition on a bang with five consecutive wins over Fiji‚ Trinidad and Tobago‚ Jamaica‚ Scotland and Uganda to book a place in the semis.

Each of the 12 players remain on course to earning huge bonuses of R1m each they were promised by sponsors Telkom if they go all the way and win the competition.

If they finish second‚ each player will get R500‚000.

As if that were not enough‚ the national side's title sponsor Spar have dangled another carrot and the players will share R1m if they win the tournament.

They will share R750‚000 if they finish second and R500‚000 for a third-place finish.