The Hindu : Sport : South Africa looking to start anew

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Monday, Mar 12, 2007
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South Africa looking to start anew

Things can only improve for the hitherto jinxed team

BASSETERRE (St. Kitts): After an emergency hotel evacuation and a dispute over unsafe pitches, South Africa cricket coach Mickey Arthur must be wondering what else can go wrong.

Helped by Australia's five-match losing streak, South Africa became the top-ranked limited-overs team by routing Pakistan 4-0 last month and headed to the West Indies for the World Cup on a high.

But South Africa's players were forced from their Trinidad hotel on Wednesday when a gas canister was opened, and that disruption then moved onfield with fears for the safety, and form, of key batsmen.

Having being bowled out for just 192 by unheralded Ireland on Monday, South Africa batted first again against Pakistan on Friday and was skittled for 199 to ultimately lose by seven wickets.

But Arthur had earlier entered the field after 16 overs to complain that the pitch's unpredictable bounce was endangering his players.

While the call to abandon the match was rejected after a seven-minute delay in which both coaches, captains and umpires discussed options, South Africa's desire to bat under proper match conditions had also fallen by the wayside.

Key player

``The last thing we wanted to do was lose a player like Jacques Kallis to a ball rearing and sticking up and injuring him, because he's obviously crucial to our World Cup campaign,'' Arthur said.

No South African batsman hit a boundary or six against Pakistan, and Arthur is concerned at the form of his top order with the Proteas' opening match against the Netherlands on Friday.

``(Batting numbers) One, two, three and four are going to be crucial for us in this World Cup campaign,'' he said. ``Our only concern is getting our top order into the middle and getting some runs. But they've all said they've kept them for the major games, so I'm happy.''

The Proteas' preparation hasn't only been hit by twice batting first on a damp pitch. Strike bowler Makhaya Ntini won't arrive until early next week because he stayed in South Africa for the birth of his child.

``I don't think we're going to play on pitches like we've played on here,'' Arthur said. ``If my information is right, the pitches are going to be a huge amount better.''

Heartbreaking exits

South Africa has exited the last two World Cups in heartbreaking fashion — by tying its last match. It was famously knocked out in the 1999 semifinals against Australia on a count-back when Allan Donald was run out on the third-last ball following a mix-up with Lance Klusener.

Steve Waugh's apocryphal taunt that Herschelle Gibbs had dropped the World Cup by spilling a catch he'd hit on 56 to allow him to reach 120 not out had entered cricketing folklore from this match.

Misinterpretation

Four years later, Shaun Pollock misinterpreted what run-rate South Africa required against Sri Lanka under the Duckworth-Lewis method to miss out on the next round by one run. He was soon fired as captain.

Ironically, it was South Africa's exit from the 1992 semifinals after requiring 21 runs from one ball on a previous rain-rule that had prompted the ICC to find a fairer system to decide rain-affected matches.

South Africa plays Scotland on March 20 before the critical Group A game against defending champion Australia four days later, but Arthur is refusing to look too far ahead.

``My priority is getting (Graeme) Smith, (A.B.) de Villiers, Kallis and Gibbs into some sort of form. If they get into some sort of form, we'll go a long way in the competition. We need to get into that form quickly though.'' — AP

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