Ireland promise battling display
Ireland captain William Porterfield vowed his team would play with their usual attacking flair when they clash with powerful South Africa.
The Irish pulled off the biggest upset when they beat England but have lost to India, West Indies and Bangladesh. They have no realistic chance of reaching the quarter-finals whereas a win for South Africa would guarantee them a last-eight berth.
“We don’t have anything to lose,” said Porterfield. “We’ve just got to go out there and attack in the same way that we’ve attacked in every game.”
Smith confident after win against India
Meanwhile, South Africa captain Graeme Smith is wary of Ireland’s fighting spirit. However, the momentum is with his team as they defeated India in a tense finish.
“Saturday’s win was a massive step forward,” said Smith. “That doesn’t mean we can just walk in and knock Ireland over. They’ve got good cricket sense and can be dangerous.”
South Africa have shown they have depth in both bowling and batting. Their spinners, Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson and Johan Botha, were superbly backed by fast-bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in previous games. Their batting looks solid especially after Jacques Kallis’s return to form. However, the Proteas received an injury scare with in-form batsman AB de Villiers undergoing a thigh scan after suffering an injury during the game against India.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2011.
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