Preview - South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa ranked no.1 now due to the efforts of New Zealand (in beating Aus) will be desperate to win the 2007 edition after narrow and unlucky misses in the last 4.

1992 rain rule killed them then, Lara was lightning best in 1996 when a consistent SA just had a bad day, 1999 purely unlucky to tie the semi finals against Aus and 2003 Duckworth-Lewis rain calculation undid them. Whatever the excuses, they have been chokers on big stage and that clearly reflects as they haven’t won a major tournament yet.

In Smith they have an over aggressive and a loud mouth captain who spends more time answering verbal volleys than spending time at the crease when it comes to crucial matches. Kallis and Pollock remain the key all rounders for them for the past few years.

An aggressive de Villiers at the top of the order along with late sloggers should keep the SA run rate high. Gibbs recent form has been just ordinary and that should concern SA. However I feel their bowling can be vulnerable due to lack of any quality spinners. Good teams will be looking to thrash Smith’s offspin if at all he bowls.

It will be the last world cup for Pollock and may be for Kallis and Gibbs too. If they can battle it out as much as they talk, it will be worth watching the all round skills of the South African Teams.

Strengths:
· Depth in batting line up.
· Lots of All rounders.
· Lot of attacking players to keep up the run rate (except Prince and Kallis to an extent)

Weaknesses:
· Smith’s big mouth.
· Lack of quality spinners.
· Gibbs’ current form looks ordinary.
· Chokers tag in big games hangs around their neck.

Key Players:
· Pollock, Smith, Kallis

Dark Horse:
· De Villiers, Boucher

My Take:
· Super 8 Stage / Semifinals

My Team:
Graeme Smith (c), AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher (wk), Justin Kemp, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini.