'It is all about peaking at the right time' - Arthur
A very confident South African team arrived at Piarco International Airport on Thursday morning, ready to take on all-comers, as their preparations for the World Cup enter the final phases.
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South Africa were the first squad in Trinidad for the biggest event in the region, flying in at around 12:40 a.m. when they were greeted by members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), including CEO Anand Daniel, and a handful of media representatives.
Mickey Arthur, South Africa's coach, expressed satisfaction with his team's readiness for the tournament, saying: "It is all about peaking at the right time and I think, for us, things have been going nicely this season. We have shown an upward curve so hopefully our planning is coming to fruition."
South Africa overtook defending two-time World Cup champions Australia in the official ICC One Day International championship table, after a string of good performances in the past 12 months.
One of the highlights last year was a 3-2 series win over Australia, sealed by scoring a world-record 438 for nine, as well as seven victories from their last eight completed matches. The main thing on the South African's minds right now is acclimatisation. The last time they visited the Caribbean was in 2003 and their objective in the warm-up games, according to Graeme Smith, is "finding our feet before the tournament starts".
Smith expressed confidence in his team's ability to do well in the Caribbean. "We have a good bowling attack...we have got a lot of variation so I think we back ourselves pretty well and I think this will be the key with the wickets not being tested and the team that adapts best will be able to get the most of it.
"We are trying to get as much information about what we are up against and hopefully adapt to what we are going to face," Smith added.
Speaking about the West Indies team, Smith was adamant that the World Cup hosts played fantastic cricket in the ICC Champions Trophy last year, when they beat South Africa on the way to the final against Australia.
Smith singled out hard-hitting West Indies opener Chris Gayle as a key figure in the home side's success in the Champions Trophy. But he hinted the South Africans have been working on some plans to counteract the "terrific" players on the West Indies side.
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