South Africa v West Indies, facts and trivia – World Cup 2011
The historical Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 is ready to welcome guests from South Africa and West Indies for the 7th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
Both teams are playing their first game in the mega event and the match is very important as it will show critics and fans of both sides how well prepared each side is for the World Cup.
After five failed attempts to raise the World Cup, Proteas’s patience is running out while this World Cup presents the Caribbean Kings an opportunity to show that they can still be counted among the top nations in international cricket.
The Kotla Stadium has not hosted an international match since December 2009 when the One Day International (ODI) between India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 was abandoned after 23 overs due to a dangerous pitch.
It means, the Feroz Shah Kotla itself is on trial and the stadium management is hoping for no repeat of such scenes today.
Established in 1883, the Feroz Shah Kotla has observed a number of feats, especially Anil Kumble's 10 wickets in one innings against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. West Indies has never lost a game at the Kotla whereas South Africa has not played an ODI at the venue.
Of the 7 matches West Indies have played here, only one was an ODI in 1989, where they beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 by 20 runs. The highest score {303} at this ground was made by Pakistan while India scored the lowest {144} in the same match.
Darren Sammy, the skipper of the Caribbean side is playing his first global competition while it is going to be Smith’s first match in his last World Cup as captain.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 in the last 11 ODIs the two sides have contested. The record in World Cup is even though, as they have faced each other 4 times in a World Cup and both teams have won 2 games each. Overall both teams have played
50 matches against each other where Proteas have won 37 out of them.
Out of the 15-member West Indian World Cup squad, 10 players are playing their first World Cup.
On the other hand, South Africa is also entering in this tournament with 11 World Cup debutants as Hashim Amla, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne
van Wyk are participating in the mega event for the first time.
Graeme Smith has been a successful captain of Proteas since 2003. In his 8 years of captaincy, he led South Africa in 142 matches in which, Proteas won 87 matches and lost 49. Among the six players to have scored over 5000 runs as captain in ODIs, Smith's
average of 39.64 is second only to Ricky Ponting's 43.58.
Hashim Amla has been in superb form in recent times as he has scored 1308 runs in his last 20 matches at an average of 72.66.
Kallis is the most experienced South African player in terms of World Cups and both tournaments where South Africa reached the semi-finals (1999 and 2007) were fruitful for Kallis. His overall record in World Cups is exceptional as he has scored 923 runs
at an average of 51.27 and taken 16 wickets.
On the other hand, West Indies is looking to their young and senior players to perform. Dwayne Bravo just played one edition, in 2007, and had a poor tournament with the bat. He averaged 21.50 from nine games but was better with the ball, picking up 13 wickets
at an average of 27.76.
Chanderpaul has played four World Cups and averages 40.76 from 26 games. The 1999 edition, in which he averaged 67, was his best. Gayle hasn't been at his best in the World Cups, averaging just 28.93 at a strike rate of 76.54 from 15 games spread across
the last two tournaments.
Both teams are looking for a good start in the World cup by winning their starter. The Caribbean side is weaker than the Proteas but the spectators can expect high quality cricket from both teams as they bring their best to the table.
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