Graeme Smith looking forward to knockout stage of ICC World Cup 2011
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 captain Graeme Smith said that they are done with the first part of their job and are now looking forward to the knockout stage of the ICC World Cup 2011.
South Africa became the first team from Group B of the World Cup to qualify for the quarterfinals on Tuesday after beating Ireland by a huge margin of 131 runs at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
“We've done the first part of our job,” said Smith after Tuesday’s win. “We want to be at the top of our group. Three good games ahead and then the Cup. We are now looking forward to the knock-out stage.”
The Proteas went off to a shaky start in their penultimate league game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 and were struggling at one stage when five of their batsmen were back in the pavilion with just 117 runs on the board. However, wicketkeeper batsman Morne
van Wyk and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jean-Paul-Duminy-c66758 helped the side recover from the initial slump as they posted 272 runs after 50 overs.
The bowling attack complemented the efforts of the batsmen as the whole Irish line-up was rolled over for 141 runs in the 34th over.
Smith said he was pleased with way South African middle-order has fought in the last two games and hoped they will continue with the responsible batting in the remainder of the tournament.
“When we came into the tournament we were just thinking how it's going to be. Our middle-order responded pretty well in the last two games,” said the South Africa opening batsman. “We put ourselves under pressure with some stupid run outs
today but the guys responded really well after that.”
Smith lauded Duminy for his 103-ball 99. He said that the Kolkata wicket was not that easy to bat but the middle-order batsman did a tremendous job.
The 131-run defeat to the Proteas sent Ireland packing from the mega cricketing event. However, the Irish skipper William Porterfield said that they have a lot of positives from the showpiece event and was hopeful the International Cricket
Council would help them play in the high-profile tournament again.
South Africa now play co-hosts http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in their final league game on Saturday.
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