Graeme Smith elated with South Africa’s performance against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 – ICC World Cup 2011
The South African camp is chuffed with the their clinical performance in the opening match of the ICC World Cup 2011 against an disciplined West Indian team that blew away a good start to hand over a comfortable seven wicket win to Graeme Smith’s men at
the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi.
The Proteas won the toss and opted to field first. The decision was vindicated by a strong performance by the team led by the spin of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 born leg spinner, who was making his debut at the international level.
The right arm bowler bamboozled the West Indians, who are traditionally poor players of spin bowling, to take four wickets at crucial junctures of the innings.
He was supported by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Johan-Botha-c67173 who both chipped in with two wickets each as the Proteas recorded their 12th consecutive win over the Caribbean Kings in the One Day International (ODI) format. Smith played a master stroke at the
start of the innings as he introduced Botha in the attack for the very first over of the match and the move paid immediate dividends when he accounted for the flambouyant Chris Gayle in the very first over.
Botha was extremely impressive in his effort and Smith stated that he had devised the strategy a day or two ago. He was inspired by New Zealand’s ploy in the 1992 World Cup of starting the bowling innings with off-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dipak-Patel-c54196. The move had worked
for the Kiwis as the co-hosts eased into the semi-finals of the tournament.
"I'd been thinking about it through the week. They've got two left-handers upfront and I asked Johan to practice a bit in the nets," Smith said after South Africa's victory. "Sometimes when you come up with things and it works out it's a great thing, and
today was one of those days."
Smith added that the decision to include three front line spinners Botha, Tahir and Robin Peterson was taken by the team for this match only and changes can be expected in the upcoming matches especially with the pitch conditions in mind.
The man left out of the team for the West Indian tie was left arm fast bowler Lonwabo Tsetsobe who has been a great success in the recent ODI encounter against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
The lanky left armer was a surprise exclusion for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 game yet Smith stated that he was definitely set to be a part of the plans for the remainder of the tournament, considering his impact with the new ball.
"It worked for us today and we will reassess going into the next game." He also didn't rule out the possibility of Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who had success against India and Pakistan, returning, saying that he will "play a very big part in this World Cup."
At the post match press conference Smith stated that the team was happy with the way things panned out at Delhi and he added that whatever he had thought off worked out for him and it was a great feeling.
"Everything that I envisaged going into this game seemed to work out," Smith said. "I just trusted my gut feel."
The Proteas have a week-long gap before they play their next match against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753. The perennial chokers have announced their intentions in no uncertain terms. It remains to be seen if they can replicate that performance in the remaining matches
in Group B as they aim to make it to the quarter-final stage of the 14 nation tournament.
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