Botha relishes opening the bowling

South Africa vice-captain wary of Kiwi threat.

DHAKA:

South Africa off-spinner Johan Botha said he was enjoying his role as opening bowler in the World Cup and looked forward to doing that again in the quarter-final against New Zealand.

Captain Graeme Smith raised a few eyebrows when he handed the new ball to Botha ahead of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in the matches against the West Indies and Bangladesh. The gamble paid off as Botha removed West Indies batsman Chris Gayle and Bangladesh’s Junaid Siddique cheaply.

Botha said his role was to dry up the runs as the fast-bowlers and leg-spinner Imran Tahir and left-armer Robin Peterson, struck from the other end.

“We three spinners are a lot different from each other. They attack and I keep the runs in check,” said Botha.

However, despite South Africa labelled favourites, Botha refused to take victory against the Kiwis for granted.

“We know we’re up against a quality team and if we’re not going to be on top of our game, it’s going to be a really tough match,” said the vice-captain.”

De Silva hits out at Sri Lankan middle-order

World Cup winner Aravinda de Silva believes Sri Lanka’s misfiring middle-order could be the weakest link in the clash against England.

De Silva, the team’s chief selector, also said the match will be “tough”, with the toss playing a vital role because of the dew factor. The batsman said Sri Lanka’s main concern so far has been the inconsistency in the batting department.

“He was very critical of the middle order which has not yet performed up to expectations,” said a report quoting de Silva.

“He said England were comfortable playing quality spinners and have the batsmen to make big scores.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2011.