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| July 16, 2002 | Tuesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423 |
Pollock dreams of World Cup glory for South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, July 15: South African skipper Shaun Pollock is confident that he can become the first man to lead the host nation to victory in the Cricket World Cup.
The tournament, featuring 14 teams, takes place in the Republic in February and March next year and Pollock believes he has a good enough squad to win despite their 6-1 defeat by Australia in a home one-day series earlier this year.
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live’s Jamie Theakston Cricket Show, he said: “No home team has managed to lift the trophy, so it’s a record that needs to be broken. Hopefully, we can be the ones that do it.
“I’m very confident. We’ve got a very good side and some very talented cricketers. Some of them are the best in the world.
“If we can play well throughout the tournament and not let the pressure of being home nation get to us, I don’t see any reason why we can’t win.”
South Africa first appeared in the World Cup in 1992 following their re-admission to international cricket.
They reached the semifinals in Australia, only to lose to England in controversial fashion when a rain interruption led to their target of 22 off 13 balls being changed to 22 off one ball.
Hansie Cronje’s side reached the last four in England three years ago, but were beaten by eventual winners Australia in arguably the greatest World Cup match ever seen.
Set 214 to win, South Africa needed a single to win but Allan Donald was run out off fourth delivery of final over and Australia went through because they had finished higher in the table in Super Six phase of the competition.
Pollock hopes that home support to lift his team’s level of performance but expects one or two shock results, as there were at the recent football World Cup in Japan and Korea.
“Teams are getting a lot better at the game and the sides that used to be regarded as minnows can definitely spring some shocks”.
Cricket World Cup organisers sold tickets to 12 spectators for next year’s tournament in South Africa before the system crashed Monday, sending organisers into a tailspin and stretching the patience of hundreds of fans.
Some fans had been camping out in icy winter weather since Friday night.
Though the computer glitch was fixed an hour later, long queues were snaking down the road away from ticket offices at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, Newlands in Cape Town and Kingsmead in Durban.
At Wanderers, first in line, Peter Moss said he had been braving sub-zero temperatures since last week.
“Friends drove past on Friday morning and saw about 300 people queueing so we decided to join. When they left I was first, and I decided to stay,” he told the Johannesburg-based daily The Star.
“If my wife divorces me, at least I’ll have my cricket ticket,” said self-confessed Johannesburg cricket devotee Ashley Petersen.
On Monday a total of 222,000 tickets sold in packages - ranging from 30 rand (three dollars/euros) to 225 rand a game, depending on the seats - were available to the South African public and a further 70,000 follow-the-team tickets to certain games will become available on December 2.
The tournament will begin in Cape Town in February 2003 and will entail 54 games at 15 venues in three countries - South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Some 800,000 spectators are expected at the grounds while organisers claim a global audience in excess of one billion will view the tournament on television.—PPI/AFP
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