SA get serious for unserious match

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Wellington

THE games of football that SA play to warm up for their training sessions tend to be muddled with mirth and buoyant with boys being boys - which can mean they crackle with competitiveness.

None of which was apparent in the kickabout at the Basin Reserve on Tuesday ahead of SA’s World Cup match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at Wellington Regional Stadium, which starts at 3am on Thursday (SA time). Instead, the mood was heavy with seriousness. Or was it a renewed sense of purpose?

Hashim Amla ran through the light, plastic goal as if it wasn’t there, bowling it over with uncharacteristic aggression, while AB de Villiers barked orders at his teammates. Russell Domingo, meanwhile, was yelled out of the game when he dared put foot to ball.

Why did De Villiers wear a red bib over his training kit when all the other players in his football team wore yellow bibs? Did that mean he was as angry as he was in Auckland on Saturday when his team threw away their wickets for 202 on their way to defeat against Pakistan?

“You can understand AB being upset,” Morne Morkel said on Tuesday. “It was the perfect situation for us to go and do the stuff we had spoken about, but things didn’t work out and now we need to pick ourselves up.”

Morkel was confident that would happen before the quarter-finals, in which SA are likely to face Sri Lanka in Sydney next Wednesday.

“We always find a solution; that’s the quality of this team. But we need to go out and execute it. It’s all good talking about it in the changeroom but now it’s about going out and doing it on the park when there are 16 000 people screaming and 100 runs to get.

“At least we are aware of the things we need to improve on. We’ve got answers to the grey areas.

“We need to play well on Thursday and then fly to Sydney with strong minds - take all the negative out of it.”

The most worrying “grey area” is why SA’s batsmen crack more easily than other teams’. They have been under pressure just twice in their five games at the World Cup - by India and Pakistan - and they have lost both matches.

In terms of talent, skill and experience, SA boast cricket’s best batting line-up. In terms of playing well when it matters, they have proven themselves fragile.

What, then, might they take from a game against a UAE team who have played 22 one-day internationals in the not quite 21 years since their first game at this level, a side who have lost all four of their matches at the World Cup - including those against Zimbabwe and Ireland?

“They start quite well with the new ball, they bowl at a pace that’s tough to get away and they get a lot of swing,” Morkel said. “So, for our top order, it would be good to be tight. From a bowling point of view, we can work on our death bowling and on lots of things.”

Going into SA’s fateful game against Pakistan, the Emirates’ Shaiman Anwar, who has made a century and two half-centuries in four innings, was the tournament’s top runscorer. However, none of their bowlers have taken more than five wickets.

The UAE have been dismissed just once - for 102 by India - and have topped 200 in all of their other innings. But they have yet to bowl out their opponents. SA will hope they do not became that statistic on Thursday.

SA v UAE in World Cups:

P1 W1 (1996)

Highest totals:

For: 321/2 (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Against: 152/8 (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Lowest totals:

For: 321/2 (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Against: 152/8 (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Highest scores:

For: Gary Kirsten 188 not out (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Against: Arshad Laeeq 43 not out (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Best bowling:

For: Brian McMillan 3/11 (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)

Against: Johanne Samarasekara 1/39 (Rawalpindi - February 16, 1996)