Pollock believes South Africa will reach World Cup final
South Africa’s former skipper and right-arm pace bowler Shaun Pollock has backed his country to reach the final of the upcoming cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747.
Admitting the fact that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 were currently ranked number four in the world, Pollock believed that the Proteas were capable of producing a good enough performance in the tournament to reach the final. Pollock told reporters, “I have a firm belief
that we will definitely make the final, I've got that feeling. We're only ranked fourth, but maybe that's what we need, it's going to be a very open tournament."
South Africa have never reached the final of the World Cup. Their best performance includes reaching the semi-finals on three occasions in 1992, 1999 and 2007.
Since 1992, South Africa have always been considered as favourites for the tournament but they have always managed to blow their chances of lifting the World Cup when the going gets tough. For this very reason they have been labelled as “chokers” in the
world of cricket.
Pollock however, hopes that this year will be different, and the Proteas will finally be able to shed their title of chokers once and for all. He added, “We've been extremely unfortunate in the past, so we are due some luck, we all hope for a happy ending
this time. At some stage, things will run for us and we always have a team that has an excellent chance of winning the competition."
Proteas skipper Graeme Smith has already announced that this will be his last tournament as captain of South Africa and he hopes to end his stint on a high. The players would be trying to play the best cricket of their career to give the outgoing captain
an impressive farewell.
Pollock, who is now a cricket commentator, believes that co-hosts Sri Lanka have a very good chance of winning this year’s World Cup because the team looks in good form and the Lankans have always played well in the subcontinent.
According to Pollock, conditions in the subcontinent suit the Sri Lankans, and they have the players who can take full advantage under the circumstances.
Pollock didn’t place his money on the current title holders http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 because he suggested that the Aussies have looked vulnerable over the past few months and have lost their winning edge. He however, reiterated that Australia would play competitive cricket.
Australia are coming into the World Cup with most of their first choice players struggling with injuries. Pollock pointed out the fact that Australia will dearly miss lower middle order batsman Michael Hussey, who was ruled out of the World Cup squad because
of a hamstring injury.
South Africa are in Group B along with India, Bangladesh, England, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753.
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