Australia's No. 1 status under threat
New Zealand's thumping victory in the opening match of the Chappell-Hadlee in Wellington has put the squeeze on Australia at the top of the ICC's one-day rankings, with South Africa now moving into joint-first position
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Both Australia and South Africa now have 128 points, but if Australia lose either of their next two matches against New Zealand, they will have slipped to second by the time the World Cup gets underway in the Caribbean next month.
South Africa, meanwhile, have been in thumping good form against Pakistan, whom they beat 3-1 in their recent one-day series, and their captain, Graeme Smith, was relishing the prospect of overhauling the Aussies at the top of the rankings.
"When the team realised they were that close to being No. 1, no-one was scared of it," Smith told SAPA news. "When we talked about it before the last game [against Pakistan], you could feel the excitement and the feel that all the hard work we had put in had been worth it.
"The World Cup is the same. We don't mind carrying the tag of being World Cup favourites. In the World Cup environment, it doesn't make you a better team than Australia. You've still got to perform on every given day that you play."
Australia's stand-in captain, Michael Hussey, was in no doubt about his team's predicament. "We're all aware of it and we want to stay No. 1, there's no question about that," he said. "Our main goal is playing well and winning the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and if we do that we remain No.1.
"We probably weren't as disciplined as we normally are," added Hussey, who believes the defeat would act as a wake-up call ahead of the World Cup. "I think [coach] John Buchanan keeps a bunch of statistics and we did fall off a little bit on the bowling and batting side of things. Certainly the players are aware of it and we're very determined to remain No.1, it's something we're very proud of."
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