South Africa's World Cup stocks rise
Whatever happens in the “dead” ODI in Perth, South Africa have progressed quicker than we might have anticipated in cleaning the slate and engineering an upturn after the England debacle, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24 .
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
Whatever happens in the “dead” ODI in Perth, South Africa have progressed quicker than we might have anticipated in cleaning the slate and engineering an upturn after the England debacle, writes Rob Houwing on Sport24.
The perfect scenario would be that even Friday’s less-than-full-strength South African side prevails against the punch-drunk Aussies at the WACA, making it 4-1 for the series and assumption of top spot on the ICC rankings. Even if that proves a bridge too far, there will be fresh opportunity on home soil to claim that bragging right, and at least we can heave a sigh of relief that an overdue maiden World Cup triumph (that’s got to be a key target now) doesn’t look nearly so unlikely an occurrence just over two years up the drag.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo