South Africa are amongst the favourites to lift the 2011 World Cup, but coach Corrie Van Zyl doesn’t want his wards to take minnows Ireland lightly.
“There is always a danger of taking the minnows too lightly and I wouldn’t like my boys to do that. We have all seen how well the Irish players have played and they have taken everybody by surprise.
“Although I am not someone to comment if they are ready to go to the next level — play more international matches — I am looking for a good fight from them on Tuesday. Mental as well as tactical preparation is a must going into the match,” he said.
Although AB de Villiers and Imran Tahir are injured, Corrie said a final call on the playing XI would be taken only in the evening. “AB’s scan is yet to come in and Tahir didn’t play in the last match either. AB’s injury doesn’t look too serious and even if he isn’t fit to play against Ireland, every player in the 15-man squad is fit to represent the team on any given day,” he said.
Their win against India has boosted the team’s morale but Corrie doesn’t want his boys to think too far ahead and wants them to concentrate on one match at a time. “When we left South Africa, we had decided that we will take one game at a time and our aim hasn’t changed. The win against India obviously gave the confidence and if anything it was the biggest psychological boost that we could have expected, but we don’t want to think about the knockout stages as of yet,” he said.
Ireland skipper William Porterfield isn’t too worried about taking on South Africa. Porterfield feels not many would expect the minnows to win anyway, so the players would rather concentrate on enjoying themselves.
“Not that many people expect us to win anyway, so we would rather go out and enjoy the moment. The opportunity to play at the Eden Gardens doesn’t come every day, so rather than getting overawed by the strong South African line-up, we would look to play freely,” he said.
Irish bowler Johnston mightbe one of the few bowlers to have dismissed Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the same innings, but Ireland pace spearhead Trent Johnston believes it had more to do with luck than anything else.
Johnston said that although the two deliveries which accounted for the Delhi duo weren’t the greatest, cricket has always been a game where luck has played an important role. “I agree that they weren’t by any standard of imagination great deliveries, but then cricket isn’t always a fair game. When the luck is on your side, you can do wonders. For example, on his day, Sehwag could have whipped that ball to the midwicket fence but it was my day and he hit it straight back to me,” he said.
“Even with Gambhir, it was a length delievery on leg stump and he only had to miss Alex Cusack at short fine-leg, but luckily for me, he picked him out. The wickets definitely stunned the vociferous crowd.
Johnston is keen to be back against South Africa on an Eden Gardens wicket which looks uncharacteristically green. “This match is like a final for us and I am leaving no stone unturned to ensure that I play the match. I am really working hard to get fit and the physiotherapist has been working overtime to ensure that I am ready for the match,” he said.
Although this could well be Ireland’s last World Cup, Johnston feels it has been a great experience playing in the showpiece event.
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