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| March 20, 2007 | Tuesday | Safar 30, 1428 |
Proteas focus on Scots before big test
BASSETERRE (St Kitts), March 19: Top-ranked South Africa would want to be as ruthless as possible against minnows Scotland before taking on bitter rivals Australia in their crunch World Cup test.
“We are focused on our match against Scotland, because this is the match to play for now,” said South African captain Graeme Smith of his team's Group A clash on Tuesday.
Smith's men know their real challenge will come on March 24 against defending champions Australia whom they displaced as world number one last month.
Smith believed his team's emphatic 221-run win over the Netherlands in their first group match last week had given the players a much-needed work out.
“After what happened in Trinidad we arrived in St Kitts and since then have better preparation. The batsmen have had good workouts and the bowlers bowled a few so I am happy with the preparations,” said Smith, whose team had a poor build-up to the tournament.
They struggled to beat debutants Ireland and went down by seven wickets to Pakistan in their warm-up matches in Trinidad, where the facilities and a tricky pitch came under criticism.
But against Netherlands in their Group A opener they piled up 353-3 with Jacques Kallis hitting an unbeaten 128, while Herschelle Gibbs wrote his name in history books by slamming six sixes in an over for the first time in one-day cricket during his 40-ball 72.
Mark Boucher made the fastest World Cup fifty off just 21-balls.
Only opener AB de Villiers failed to make an impact when he was dismissed without scoring, a failure Smith was happy to write off.
“He (De Villiers) had a good series against Pakistan back home and there is no doubt in my mind that he is a good player and will be among runs soon,” said Smith who hoped his team will keep up the momentum of the first match.
“We know Scotland are a slightly better side so we need to improve. We have analysed some video footage of them,” said Smith whose side has never played Scotland in One-day Internationals.
Smith has, however, played alongside Scotland's acting captain Ryan Watson during his school days back home.
Watson will replace regular captain Craig Wright who has gone home to attend a family funeral but will be back for his team's last group match against the Netherlands on March 22.
Scotland's coach Peter Drinnen said his team relishes the challenge of playing the number one team in the world.
“We are excited by the challenge and both Australia and South Africa in our group provide us with two real challenges,” said Drinnen.
Teams (from):
SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher, A.B. de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus.
SCOTLAND: Ryan Watson (captain), John Blain, Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, Majid Haq, Paul Hoffmann, Douglas Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Neil McCallum, Dewald Nel, Navdeep Poonia, Glenn Rogers, Colin Smith, Fraser Watts.
Umpires: Mark Benson (England) and Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka).
TV umpire: Steve Bucknor (West Indies).
Reserve umpire: Tony Hill (New Zealand).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—AFP
Match starts at 6:30pm
Expected weather: 28 degrees Centigrade (83 Fahrenheit); chance of scattered showers.
Pitch: Soft and greenish brown with some grassy patches.
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