Romeo
21 Feb 2007, 20:52
Well he thinks Punter and Gilly will make a difference but the South Africans are obsessed with us. They're always being quoted as talking about us in their changing rooms and they never stop monitoring us. They have Aussie envy. He's also worried about the Lankans and kiwis. And he said in another story that Lanka have the only top class spinner in the tournament.
Muppet wary of wounded Aussieshttp://www.int.iol.co.za/data/bypics//bypic_196.gif Michael Owen-Smith
February 21 2007 at 12:19PM Graeme Smith is very proud to take the No 1 world ranking into the World Cup but he is certainly not writing off the Australians, in spite of their current shock run of defeats that has become the talking point of world cricket.
The New Zealanders completed an almost unheard-of clean sweep of Australia on Tuesday to make it five defeats for the world champions in a row, two of which were at home against unrated England.
Significantly, Smith on Tuesday ranked New Zealand as one of the top challengers outside of Australia.
"The Australians have normally had a very settled side and the challenge they are having to face at the moment is how to deal with the changes they have had to make to cope with injuries.
'They have got Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist to come back'"Remember, they have got Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist to come back into their line-up and those players will always make a difference."
Asked whether he thought being the No 1-ranked side would be a help or a hindrance, Smith said the world ranking and the World Cup had to be seen in context as different issues.
"There is no doubt the guys are very proud to have won the No 1 ranking. It has been achieved by playing consistently good and winning cricket over a period of time. The World Cup is different in that every game has to be won, particularly when it comes to the four sides making the knock-out stage.
"What we can take into the World Cup from our recent form is the fact that we have not just had one-sided wins. Some of the games we have had to win from very tight situations.
"The World Cup also has the added difficulty of being very stretched out. The competition runs for about six weeks which means that, particularly in the group stage, we will play a match and then not have the next game for another week. This was something we had to deal with during the ICC Champions Trophy in India as well.
'We must strike the right balance'"What will help is that there is probably quite a lot more to do in your spare time in the Caribbean than there was in Jaipur (in India), for example. We must strike the right balance between being able to relax and to keep our focus."
Smith said apart from the obvious threat posed by Australia, he had particular respect for Sri Lanka. "They have a very good spinner and they have a couple of match-winners as well. But that goes for most sides. The World Cup is the sort of tournament where one player can swing a single match.
"Most sides only have a couple of players who can do that, but I believe we have players all the way from No 1 down to No 11 who can do that on their day.
"Of the other teams India have an awesome batting line-up and New Zealand have several effective allrounders, although they are not up in the class of Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis."
The Proteas leave for the West Indies Wednesday week and Smith is confident that some good sessions in the nets - "they will be very important" - plus the two warm-up games will get his squad back to the level of form they have shown in recent matches.
Muppet wary of wounded Aussieshttp://www.int.iol.co.za/data/bypics//bypic_196.gif Michael Owen-Smith
February 21 2007 at 12:19PM Graeme Smith is very proud to take the No 1 world ranking into the World Cup but he is certainly not writing off the Australians, in spite of their current shock run of defeats that has become the talking point of world cricket.
The New Zealanders completed an almost unheard-of clean sweep of Australia on Tuesday to make it five defeats for the world champions in a row, two of which were at home against unrated England.
Significantly, Smith on Tuesday ranked New Zealand as one of the top challengers outside of Australia.
"The Australians have normally had a very settled side and the challenge they are having to face at the moment is how to deal with the changes they have had to make to cope with injuries.
'They have got Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist to come back'"Remember, they have got Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist to come back into their line-up and those players will always make a difference."
Asked whether he thought being the No 1-ranked side would be a help or a hindrance, Smith said the world ranking and the World Cup had to be seen in context as different issues.
"There is no doubt the guys are very proud to have won the No 1 ranking. It has been achieved by playing consistently good and winning cricket over a period of time. The World Cup is different in that every game has to be won, particularly when it comes to the four sides making the knock-out stage.
"What we can take into the World Cup from our recent form is the fact that we have not just had one-sided wins. Some of the games we have had to win from very tight situations.
"The World Cup also has the added difficulty of being very stretched out. The competition runs for about six weeks which means that, particularly in the group stage, we will play a match and then not have the next game for another week. This was something we had to deal with during the ICC Champions Trophy in India as well.
'We must strike the right balance'"What will help is that there is probably quite a lot more to do in your spare time in the Caribbean than there was in Jaipur (in India), for example. We must strike the right balance between being able to relax and to keep our focus."
Smith said apart from the obvious threat posed by Australia, he had particular respect for Sri Lanka. "They have a very good spinner and they have a couple of match-winners as well. But that goes for most sides. The World Cup is the sort of tournament where one player can swing a single match.
"Most sides only have a couple of players who can do that, but I believe we have players all the way from No 1 down to No 11 who can do that on their day.
"Of the other teams India have an awesome batting line-up and New Zealand have several effective allrounders, although they are not up in the class of Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis."
The Proteas leave for the West Indies Wednesday week and Smith is confident that some good sessions in the nets - "they will be very important" - plus the two warm-up games will get his squad back to the level of form they have shown in recent matches.