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‘Just enjoy the World Cup’

With the next World Cup slated to be held from February 19 to April 2 next year in the Indian subcontinent, the South Africans are one of the favourites for the title. But their key players are reluctant to put undue pressure on themselves, thinking about their chances in the tournament.

Veteran all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who played a crucial role in South Africa’s 57-run victory over Pakistan in the fifth one-day international at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday night, has already played in three World Cups.

Kallis reserved his special performance for the final match in the Cool & Cool Cup as the 35-year-old took 3-30 after smashing a brilliant 83.

“The message that I can give to the guys is to really enjoy the World Cup. Perhaps, in the past, we haven’t quite enjoyed it as much as we have the normal games. It’s probably the most important thing, putting the hard work down and getting ready for it, but we can’t make too big a deal of it. Just got to go there and play the kind of cricket we have been playing for the last few months and we will be alright,” he told reporters after the match.

“It might be my last World Cup. Obviously we haven’t had the success that lot of us would have liked.

However, Kallis is optimistic that the current team have ‘some thing’ special in them to eventually clinch the elusive title.

“But I really believe that this team has got something special going at the moment and if we just carry on playing the type of cricket that we playing, there is no reason why we can’t do well.”

He said it was disappointing to see his team’s World Cup failures.

“It is disappointing, but hopefully it can turn around and we can have one success. Probably the most important thing is that we put the hard work in and play the kind of cricket we have been playing for the last few months.”

South African captain Graeme Smith was also reluctant to look too far ahead.

“We are not predicting anything on the World Cup, there is a lot of cricket still to be played. I think we have taken some big steps forward.

The skipper, however, was pleased with his team’s performance against Pakistan. “I think that was our best performance. Being the crunch game, I was proud of the way we played, we looked relaxed, positive and posted a good total.

“I think initially, the first 10 to 15 overs, the way Hashim Amla played and everyone played with confidence and freedom. They really set up a good innings and then JP Duminy and Johan Botha finished that partnership and helped us get 317, that was great to see. I have to give it to the bowlers, they were the ones who had question marks on their heads and they stood up and performed well.”

He also lauded Kallis’ performance in the decider. “I’ve run out of things to say about Jacques and he completed 11,000 runs today. He is an asset for South African cricket and when he does walk away from the game it’s going to be a big loss to us. But now that we have got him, we want to make the most of him, bowling 10 overs and making hundreds every game. His experience is great and it’s great to see him come back from injury and do well.”

Smith said his team learnt a lot from the one-day series.

“We could have won the series 4-0 or 5-0 and those are the things we learn from and become more clinical but there are lots of positives as all 15 have contributed. Obviously we would like to build on those in the India series.”

pradeep@khaleejtimes.com