da pixbet： South Africa are right on course to leave Georgetown with the perfect record that they desire
da blaze casino： Dileep Premachandran in Guyana06-Apr-2007
Graeme Smith is aware of Bangladesh’s strengths, given their three-pronged spin attack © Getty Images
When they arrived in Guyana, South Africa were well aware that nothingless than six points would suffice as they sought to seal a place in thelast four of the World Cup. Having stumbled on home soil four years ago,failure is not an option for the team’s stalwarts, many of whom won’t bearound in four years time.Ahead of Saturday’s game against Bangladesh, South Africa are right oncourse to leave Georgetown with the perfect record that they desire,having held off Sri Lanka in a thrilling finish before outclassingIreland. Bangladesh, who upset India in the opening phase, haven’t comeclose to beating South Africa before, but Graeme Smith was taking nothing forgranted on a slow pitch that may aid the opposition’s strengths.”Bangladesh base a lot of their attack on their three spinners,” he said,no doubt aware of the six wickets that they combined for against India.”They have a very young batting line-up that has been a bit unpredictablethroughout the tournament. They have played aggressive at times and beendefensive at others. I think they are caught a little in between on howthey should play.”Victory over India increased the expectations back in Bangladesh tohigh-rise levels, and subsequent disappointments against Australia and NewZealand resulted in Habibul Bashar, the captain, being subjected to harshcriticism. Smith clearly doesn’t envy his opposite number, but suggestedthat such things might be par for the course now that Bangladesh are nolonger looked upon as a minnow.”Now that they are in the Super Eight, there is a lot of pressure on them fromback home to still carry on beating top teams,” he said. “It’s a differentenvironment for them now, with their nation believing they should bewinning these games more and more often.”South Africa had thumped India 4-0 at home in November, and there’s nodoubt that playing Bangladesh in their place represents a bit of a stepinto the unknown. “We watched a bit of the India game,” said Smith. “Theyare a team, that if you give them any chance, they will pounce at it. Youhave got to start really well against them, and put them on the back footas early as you can. You give them a sniff and they have got players who,under Dav Whatmore, have learnt how to win games.”Apart from the spin trio, Bangladesh’s hopes rest largely with the youngbatting line-up that eclipsed India’s much-feted one. “They are young andsometimes don’t think about the situation they are in,” said Smith, whohimself was pitched into the big time pretty early. “They play with thatsort of freedom.”Due to their unpredictable nature, they can get off to a fast start, butcan also collapse at times. I think it’s about remaining calm againstthese sort of teams, who are unpredictable.”South Africa have four games in the next 10 days, and with fatigue boundto become an issue, there might be a couple of changes against Bangladesh.Andrè Nel should come into the reckoning, with Charl Langeveldt likely tomake way, and Robin Peterson will also come into the equation if thethink-tank decides that Makhaya Ntini requires a small break before biggerchallenges.”There are crucial games coming up for us,” said Smith. “We have two gamesin Grenada against New Zealand and West Indies, and we need to step upgoing into the meat of the World Cup. We don’t want do-or-die gamesagainst bigger teams.”The winner-take-all game that they’d love is a final against Australia,but Smith is wary of looking too far into the future. “It’s the final mostguys dream of,” he admitted. “But the important thing is reaching thesemi-finals.”Bangladesh’s priority, as Whatmore said on Wednesday, is to avoidfinishing last in the Super Eights. It makes for a fascinating tussle,between an ever-improving side with everything to gain and another thattruly believes that they can go all the way after the heartbreaks of 1992and ’99.
