Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Christchurch
AB de Villiers and Kumar Sangakkara have much in common as two of the most exciting batsmen cricket has yet produced, but they were at odds going into SA’s World Cup warm-up match against Sri Lanka at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday.
“It’s just another tournament,” De Villiers said on Saturday. “It’s an important tournament but it’s just another tournament. That’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learnt.”
Sangakkara, who is seven years older than De Villiers and has played 397 one-day internationals to De Villiers’ 179 - a difference of 218 - begged to differ.
“You’ve got to accept it’s a World Cup rather than treat it as just another match,” Sangakkara said on Sunday. “Situations in certain games will call for you to lift yourself.”
Whether De Villiers or Sangakkara has the stronger argument was unlikely to be tested in Monday’s game, a low-key affair involving more than 11 players a side and meant for tightening the last few nuts and bolts before the event starts.
SA’s other warm-up, against New Zealand at the same venue on Wednesday, will also be about practice more than it will be about winning and losing.
But Sangakkara, who is part of a Sri Lankan squad who have been touring New Zealand for the past six weeks and are thus significantly better attuned to the conditions than SA, who arrived on Friday, made sure De Villiers’ men knew the spotlight was on them.
The pitches and weather of middle earth, he said, were a smaller factor for the relatively later arrivals than the fact that New Zealand is 11 hours ahead of SA.
“It’s more about the time difference,” Sangakkara said. “The bodies will be stiff and hard - it could take five or six days to recover.”
No pressure, then. Or, as Lasith Malinga said, “I don’t know what pressure means; I don’t know what everyone talks about.”
Which was rich considering the fast bowler will have been under considerable pressure on Monday in his first match since September because of ongoing ankle problems.
Malinga said his ankle hurt with every delivery he bowled, a fact he was determined to turn into a positive: “This is the World Cup - I need to use that pain.”
SA are heavily favoured to win their first match of the tournament proper, against Zimbabwe in Hamilton this Sunday. But the Zimbabweans were determined not to be treated like poor relations.
“We can’t allow them to bully us,” captain Elton Chigumbura said. “If we play positive cricket we put tams under pressure. If we do that then that mentality will go away.”
Craig Ervine did not sound confident of that happening: “SA will definitely come out and try and bully us. They’re got quite a bit of pace and their batsmen are in form. We’re going to have to be right on top of our game to be competitive against them.”
But SA should be prepared for Zimbabwe to put their money where Chigumbura’s mouth is. The appointment of Dav Whatmore as their coach on December 30 has polished this perennially downtrodden team’s morale.
Training sessions have shortened and become more targetted, and the players are being treated like professionals instead of like schoolboys.
The difference in the Zimbabwean camp is noticeable, and while SA will remain confident of victory they will also need to remind themselves that Whatmore took Sri Lanka’s no-hopers all the way to triumph in 1996.
SA against Sri Lanka and New Zealand in World Cups:
V Sri Lanka (1992-2007) - P4 W2 L1 T1
V New Zealand (1992-2011) - P6 W2 L4
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