The United Arab Emirates won the toss and put South Africa into bat in their World Cup Pool B match at the Westpac Stadium on Thursday.
South Africa are looking to seal second place in the group behind defending champions India who have already qualified for the quarter-finals.
The Proteas will wrap up their spot in the last eight with victory over the UAE amateurs who have lost all of their four games so far.
Proteas skipper AB de Villiers said he was "not too unhappy" about batting first.
"It's a good opportunity for our batters to once again score runs and get into form and hopefully set up a big total for them to chase down," he said.
Seamer Vernon Philander returns from a hamstring injury, replacing Kyle Abbott in the attack, while Faf du Plessis missed out due to a back injury, giving Farhaan Behardien a game.
UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir said he wanted to place early pressure on South Africa's renowned batting line-up, which has made 400-plus runs twice during the tournament.
"It looks to be good wicket and we've got a couple of fast bowlers in our side so we want to bowl first and put them under pressure," he said.
Teams:
South Africa - Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw, AB de Villiers (capt), David Miller, JP Duminy, Farhaan Behardien, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
United Arab Emirates - Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Khurram Khan, Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patil, Saqlain Haider, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir (capt), Fahad Al Hashmi, Kamran Shahzad.
Umpires: Rod Tucker (AUS), Steve Davis (AUS)
TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (AUS)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)
Weather: Mostly cloudy with some rain. Maximum temperature 20 degrees Celsius
Source: AFP