A clean sweep in the series by South Africa will open up a six-point gap with second-placed England in the ICC Test rankings. PHOTO: AFP
South Africa will seek to consolidate their top place on the world Test rankings when they play New Zealand in a two-match series starting at Newlands today.
The series shapes up as a mismatch, with eighth-ranked New Zealand hit by injuries and the withdrawal of former captain and star batsman Ross Taylor, but coach Gary Kirsten said the South Africans would not take victory for granted.
Kirsten said South Africa wanted to start a busy year of Test cricket on a strong note after capturing and then retaining the number one spot with successive away series wins against England and Australia.
“We had a good meeting around the year ahead,” said Kirsten. “We are likely to have ten Test matches in 2013, and what we do as a team is set our goals about what we want to achieve for the year. The New Zealand series will be an important stepping stone to that.
“The success of our team in the year 2012 was because of the fact that we remained humble in our play and we never took any situation or any team for granted. We made sure that our preparation was spot on and that, when we got into Test match time, we set up solid foundations to give ourselves the best chance of success. We will treat this series no differently.”
De Villiers keen to avoid slip ups
Meanwhile South Africa wicket-keeper AB de Villers has said that they would do everything to ensure they do not lose their number one ranking against New Zealand.
“The last time we got to the number one spot we threw it away like it did not really matter to us,” said de Villiers. “But now there is a feeling of ownership of the number one spot. There’s an amazing team spirit. If we can come through this year with solid performances, we’ve got a good chance to dominate around the world for the next four or five years.”
Nothing less than a 2-0 series win will be necessary for South Africa to improve their ranking points — and even then they will only gain one point. If they win the series 1-0 they will lose a point, while if they lose the series 1-0 they will shed seven points and lose their top spot to England.
New Zealand are likely to rely on a handful of top players, with captain Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson their key batsmen.
Left-arm opening bowler Trent Boult and the experienced Chris Martin will be New Zealand’s bowling spearheads in the absence of the injured Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori.
G Kirsten
“The success of our team in year the 2012 was because we remained humble in our game play, we never took any situation or any team for granted. We made sure that our preparation was spot on.”
AB de Villiers
“There’s an amazing spirit in the team right now. If we can come through this year with solid performances, we have got a very good chance to dominate around the world for the next four or five years.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2013.
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