Graeme Smith hopes to bury World Cup ghost with a win in 2011 tournament
South African captain, Graeme Smith, has stated that his team has a real chance of winning the most coveted One Day International (ODI) tournament the ICC 2011 World Cup, which starts in less than two weeks time.
The 10th edition of the event is being staged in the Subcontinent and the Proteas are aiming to reach the final of an ICC event for the first time since their only success in the 1998 inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy
held in Dhaka.
The South Africans are yet to reach the final of the 50 overs World Cup or any of the three ICC premier tournaments, (T20 championship editions held since 2007). They have started almost all tournaments since the 1996 50 overs World
Cup as favourites yet have lived up to their reputation of “chokers” each time.
Smith conceded that the pressure of expectations led to his team’s demise in the last World Cup held in the West Indies in 2007. The Proteas reached the semi-finals where they were annihilated by eventual champions http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 by a margin
of 7 wickets after their batting order collapsed meekly.
"In 2007 we went there with the expectation of winning the tournament, and put ourselves under so much pressure", Smith told a local website. "Yes, you have to want to win the World Cup and that has to be your mindset, otherwise, what's
the point of going there. But we are much more relaxed in terms of the way we want to do things, and we want to take it step by step”.
The left handed opening batsman was appointed national captain after the stunning exit of Shaun Pollock’s men in the 2003 edition hosted by them.
The team then failed to absorb the pressure of home expectations and crashed out in the opening stage after losing to the West Indies and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 as the heavens opened with the two teams
on the same par score as per the Duckworth/http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lewis-c72807 method.
The team in 2007 was full of experience and class but Smith thinks that the players were somewhat inflexible in their approach to the game due to the mechanical nature of their cricket, which relies too much on strategy, rather than
on the flair of teams like Australia, Sri Lanka, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and India.
Smith added that the current team has some real talent in its midst and has the ability to rise to the occasion, he also thinks that they have prepared better than the preparations of the 2007 team.
"When I look back on the 2007 team, I think we were a little bit too rigid in terms of players and the squad. We are a lot more open-minded now; we have a lot more options”.
The Proteas have been placed in Group B of the tournament. They would be playing their pool matches in India and have the likes of England, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 to tackle at the first stage.
They would be traveling to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 for their game against the minnows and would be aiming to go through to the quarter-final stage of the event unscathed.
However, to win the tournament they would have to win three knock-out games on the trot, the quarter-finals, semis and the big final set to take place in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 on the 2nd of April.
Smith has an eye on reaching the final and for that to happen his team would have to overcome their nerves and come out with a strategy that can topple the best in the business.
Tags: