Hollioake on a morale high (25 October 1998)

25 October 1998

Hollioake on a morale high

By Hasan Masood

The first quarterfinal of the Wills International Cup between England and South Africa will be played at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today.

Weather permitting, the day-night match will start at the big bowl at 2 pm.

Both teams, suffering from the absence of some stars and regular cricketers, had a couple of hours of nets yesterday morning. England's one-day specialist team practised at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium while South Africa, who beat England 2-1 at home in the one-day series this summer, had their nets at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) ground.

After the nets, while talking to the press, both the England and the South African skipper expressed their certainty of winning today's match.

England's one-day specialist captain Adam Hollioake, who led England to their four-nation Champions' trophy success at Sharjah last December, said that his team was pretty confident about ousting South Africa.

ÒTwo practice matches at the BKSP have given a boost to our team morale and I'm pretty happy with that. I hope this will give us extra confidence tomorrow when we meet South Africa,Ó said Hollioake.

ÒWe have an all-round side with which I have come here to win three matches; although the knock-out format is very rude as you lose a match, you go back home. So there is no room for mistakes.Ó

When asked whether he has any particular picks for today's match, the beaming Hollioake said that they would play as a team and everybody has a role to play out there.

ÒThe team spirit is quite high after the BKSP trips and I'm sure they are going to put up a good show tomorrow.Ó

ÒI always want to win and that's the only pressure I have,Ó said Hollioake in reply to whether he feels any burden after losing the one-day captaincy and then getting it back.

ÒIt's going to be an equal contest. You know we have a slightly weaker side. They too have a slightly weaker side. So I think that sort of evens the things up. According to pen and paper the match is fifty-fifty,Ó went on Adam when asked about the strength of their South African counterparts who will miss the services of their five regular cricketers-- pacers Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Roger Telemachus, all-rounder Lance Clussener and the ever-reliable left-hand opener Gary Kirsten.

Adams's opposite number, South Africa's veteran skipper Hansie Cronje does not agree that his team is weaker because, according to him, he has the proper replacements.

ÒWe want to get off to a good start. And a win against England will only ensure that for us,Ó said Cronje at the BUET dressing room.

ÒThey are a very good one-day side and active in all the departments but I don't think they have any edge,Ó added Cronje who led South Africa to their only trophy in the sub-continent -- the Silver Jubilee Cup in Pakistan, last year.

ÒThe wicket will favour the batsman here like other venues in the subcontinent, so I don't think Donald would be very successful here. What we need is to go out there and score as many runs as possible,Ó he said.

Although Cronje revealed his intention by saying that he wants to bat first, he was more conservative when asked what would he choose if he won the toss today. Cronje said he would be watching the Zimbabwe-New Zealand match to appreciate the wicket.

ÒMoreover, we have half of the day tomorrow to see the weather condition and decide. So I can't tell you anything in advance,Ó Cronje concluded.

South Africa have 13 cricketers for the tournament as Shaun Pollock withdrew himself at the last moment because of a back problem.

On the other hand, England is also likely to miss the services of Mathew Fleming from their 14-man squad. Fleming suffered a hamstring injury during their practice match against Zimbabwe on October 22.

This is going to be the 17th ODI clash between the two countries. South Africa won ten while England have only six victories.

Six of the 16 matches were played in England, seven in South Africa while the remaining three were played in neutral venues.

England: Adam Hollioake (captain), Graeme Hick, Ian Austin, Alisair Brown, Dougie Brown, Mark Elham, Neil Fairbrother, Ashley Giles, Jack Russel, Nick Knight, Graham Lloyd and Peter Martin.

South Africa: Hansie Cronje (captain), Daryll Cullinan, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Dale Benkenstein, Mark Boucher, Derek Crookes, Nicky Boje, Pat Symcox, Allan Dawson, Steve Elworthy and Makhaya Ntini.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)