West Indies relish vital points at South Africa's expense

West Indian captain Carl Hooper acknowledged that the points gained from South Africa in the World Cup opener today were vital if the West Indies were to make the tournament's Super Six stage.

The West Indies won the match by three runs at Newlands to get the tournament off to a sensational start.

"It sets up the competition nicely for us in that we're off to a good start. There's more confidence in the side especially after the poor start we had today. The manner in which we recovered to reach 278 was really good," said Hooper.

Man of the Match Brian Lara, who scored a superb century on his return from illness to international cricket, said the hard work he had put in over the past few months had paid off.

Reflecting on the sharp chance he gave to Jacques Kallis in the slips early in his innings, Lara said: "I don't think a first ball nought would have done justice. I really worked hard over the past four to five months. I came into a side that played really good cricket in the one-day series in India,and in Bangladesh, and I was coming into a team that was full of confidence."

Lara ranked his 116-run innings as No 1.

"It's important in the context of the tournament. We didn't get off to a good start and this is the world stage. Shiv (Chanderpaul), myself, Carl and the two youngsters Powell and Sarwan, whom I must mention, they propelled us to heights we thought we'd never reach."

"The pitch was very good to bat on. The way we batted in the last 30 overs and they batted in their 50 overs showed how good the pitch was."

South African captain Shaun Pollock paid tribute to the contribution of Lance Klusener who brought his side within sight of victory by making 57 off 48 balls.

"He struggled over the last few months but what you saw tonight was the value Lance Klusener brings to the party. Ideally, I would have liked that full toss to go out of the ground but it didn't. At the end of the day without him we wouldn't have had a chance. He was superb. To get so close you feel a little robbed but we didn't play well enough in the middle."

South Africa paid dearly for the loss of an over due to their slow over rate.

Pollock said the penalty had been crucial.

"If we had it things could have been easier, but we knew when the innings started we were down to 49 overs. We discussed it with the umpires and as it turned out we were a couple of seconds away from having the full 50. We bowled the last over about 20 seconds past six.

Pollock denied the team was distracted by focusing on a possible meeting with favourites Australia.

"We haven't made any talk about playing against Australia. For us we're totally focused on our pool and getting through to the Super Sixes."