South Africa's World Cup Build-up (23 April 1999)

23 April 1999

South Africa's World Cup Build-up

Ken Borland

The South African cricket team's approach to next month's World Cup in England will be all about winning their first three games.

That's according to Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis, perhaps the world's most notable all-rounders at present, who were speaking at an MTN pre-World Cup breakfast in Durban this week.

South Africa's first three matches in Group A are against India, Sri Lanka and England, and points earned against the other two advancing teams are carried through to the next round - the Super Six.

"The first three games are vital. They're against our chief rivals in the group and if we can win those then we take all those points against them through to the Super Six and we'll be in the pound seats for the semi-finals," said Pollock, who will be Hansie Cronje's vice-captain at the World Cup.

Pollock earmarked South Africa, Australia, England and Pakistan as the top sides at the tournament from May 14 to June 20.

While the English team have had to face harsh criticism following their dismal showing in the recent Champions Trophy in Sharjah, Pollock said their prospects at the World Cup were a lot rosier. "The main thing is they've got home ground advantage. They'll be hard to beat in their own conditions. "Ourselves, Australia and Pakistan are the other sides who I'd say will be most effective in those conditions and are the best balanced teams."

Kallis added India and the West Indies as dark horses and refused to consider New Zealand and Zimbabwe as also-rans. "You can never count out any team with Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara in it. We don't have superstars of their stature in our team, but we are aware that we are a very well-balanced outfit that has a top six who are all capable of big hundreds and batsmen seven to 11 can all make runs too.

"Even Zimbabwe and New Zealand will be competitive in the World Cup on the pitches there."

Kallis also sounded a warning about the 1992 champions Pakistan. "They are a top-class side who are on a roll, having played particularly well in Sharjah."

Kallis, in fantastic form for South Africa with both bat and ball over the last season, will be one of the key players at the World Cup, but he said he can live with the pressure associated with being a top all-rounder. "Being able to make an impact with either bat or ball probably kept me in the side early on in my career. I'm young enough to do the job of two players at the moment, but later on I may have to join the middle-order or bowl less, said the Western Province representative.

Pollock, who will have a key role with the new ball in light of the doubts over Allan Donald's fitness, warned that batsmen will find things in England a lot harder than in the last two World Cups in the sub-continent and Australasia.

"I think the seamers are going to gave a good time in this World Cup, especially since we're no longer using Kookaburra balls but Dukes. If what we've seen when practising with the Duke ball holds true, then it is harder than the Kookaburra and stays good longer, so it will do a bit for the first 30 overs or so. That will definitely please the seamers."

Also at the pre-World Cup breakfast was Paul Adams - once the hottest name in the South African team but now forced to watch them from the sidelines. The unorthodox left-arm spinner has had some bad luck with injuries over the last couple of years but has now gotten over them thanks to a change in footwear. "I always used to bowl in spikes, but then in your delivery stride your foot tends to get stuck when you're trying to pivot. That then hammers your leg and I got knee aches and shin splints from it. But since I've stopped using spikes I've had no problems," Adams said.

Adams still has a top-class Test record, but he would like to show what he can do in the limited-overs arena as well. "Test cricket is, of course, the most important for me, but not playing in the one-day side has been difficult. In the last three Standard Bank League games for Western Province I earned three accolades for conceding less than two runs an over. I wasn't in the 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup but then I was included in the 19. But I wasn't surprised I didn't make the final World Cup squad because I never had any time on the field to show what I could do. But I've got a long career ahead of me."

Source :: Ken Borland