South Africa look to bounce back at Lord’s

LONDON: It’s a bright sunny day at Lord’s which is getting ready to host Sunday’s World Cup game featuring two of the worst-performing teams of the ten-nation contest — Pakistan and South Africa.

Pakistan come into the match following back-to-back defeats against Australia and India. Under fire from all quarters, the Pakistanis know that their World Cup hopes are hanging by a thread. They will have to beat the Proteas, then win their remaining three games against New Zealand, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

That’s not all. With just three points from five matches, Pakistan need results of other World Cup games to go their way in order to have a chance to make it to the last-four.

South Africa, who arrived in London from Birmingham on Thursday evening, face an even worse situation. They have just one win from six World Cup outings and know that only a miracle can save them from yet another World Cup disappointment.

The Proteas came into the tournament as one of the leading title contenders but have punched below their weight in the contest where their only win has come against minnows Afghanistan.

Their poor run of form continued against the must-win game against New Zealand at Edgbaston where South Africa threw away a series of opportunities to lose by four wickets.

They have been so sloppy that the formbook suggests Pakistan would be the favourites to win on Sunday.

But South Africa coach Ottis Gibson does not think so. He believes Proteas will finish the tournament on a strong note. Pakistan should take note.

“We’ve still got three games to play and I’d like to think that we can at least play the way we know we can play,” commented Gibson. “The thing about the squad is that there are guys playing their last World Cup and I’d like to think that they will leave the world stage having signed off on a strong note.

“And there are some youngsters here that I’m sure will play in future World Cups. So they too would like to leave a statement. That’s the way we’ve got to look at it,” he said.

Leggie Imran Tahir and veteran batsman JP Duminy will both quit ODI cricket after the World Cup.

Gibson is surprised at the below-par showing of his star-studded team. “It’s very disappointing of course and we did not do what we left South Africa to do. It’s still quite raw, but for whatever reason, the players have somehow been hampered and not able to put their best forward on the grandest stage. It is surprising because we’ve seen in past series that they are very good cricketers,” he said after the loss against New Zealand.

“We’ve spoken for a long time about being positive and aggressive, taking the game forward, but they have not been able to do that when it mattered most and to see them go into their shell has been surprising. They have not been able to reach those same heights and I need to think about why. There are a lot of things we could have done better, but ultimately it came down to not having enough runs on the board,” he said.

While Pakistan trained at Lord’s for a second consecutive day, Gibson’s South Africa opted to have another rest day before the game on Sunday.