http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 - ICC World Cup 2011- at New Delhi
After 5 days of mostly lopsided encounters, the ICC 2011 World Cup sees its first match between two leading Test nations as the West Indies take on the South Africans in a group B match at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780.
The venue is staging its first international after facing a ban due to the sub-standard nature of the track, which saw a match between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 abandoned in 2009.
The wicket since then has undergone major rehabilitation and the ground staff is hoping that a perfect batting wicket is on offer for the eagerly awaited contest between two major teams after a series of matches featuring lowly ranked teams in both groups.
The respective camps sound optimistic ahead of the clash, the South African captain, Graeme Smith, stated that he was thoroughly enjoying leading the team and sees the match against the West Indies as the right opportunity for making an early impression
on the 14 nation competition.
Smith added that the general feeling around the tournament and the fact that it was being staged in India gives him the belief that something special is finally set to happen with the often jinxed Proteas team.
"A lot of the guys who are here for the first time have definitely said that", Smith said. "The expectation, the energy around India and before we left, the things that were going on around the group, especially compared to the other World Cups, this is
a lot bigger".
On the other hand, the current West Indian team is a far cry of the one that won the first two World Cups in 1975 and 1979 under the leadership of Clive Lloyd.
The men from the Caribbean were absolutely fearsome in that era and had some of the most potent bowlers in the history of the game, who could run through, the opposition’s batting.
The same cannot be said of the subsequent teams that represented the islands since then. However, under Darren Sammy they have a chance of upsetting the apple cart and reaching at least the semi-finals of the tournament.
In recent years they have been extremely inconsistent and have slipped below http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 in the ICC rankings for ODI teams. As such they are not a genuine threat yet the format of the tournament gives them an outside chance of going all the way especially
with talents like Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard in their ranks.
Sammy stated on the eve of the match that every team was beatable and the spirit in his camp was exemplary as they bid to give the title a real shake.
"Give and take, they are beatable, all teams are beatable, we just have to try and be discreet going about our business", Sammy's optimistically reminded everyone that, "Cricket is played on the day. It does not matter whether you are No. 1 or No. 9 [in
the world], you still have to go out there and do what you have to do, in order to come out victorious".
South Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe
West Indies (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Benn-c47745
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