ON PAPER, South Africa were given an uncomplicated path to the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals at the tournament’s launch in Melbourne and Wellington on Tuesday.
But, as every cricket-minded South African knows after suffering through their team’s many instances of being blinded by the light reflected off an International Cricket Council trophy, paper does not play cricket.
So South Africa’s fans will not be too excited about the fact that AB de Villiers’ team will sneak into the event all but under the radar against Zimbabwe in Hamilton. As opponents and venues go, World Cup fixtures do not get much more low key.
Not that Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor agreed with that on Tuesday. "South Africa are a very good side but they haven’t had the record they would like to have at the World Cup," he said from Harare.
"We’ll be expected to lose, which means we’ll be able to go out there and play with freedom."
Taylor stopped short of reminding South Africans that it was the Proteas’ loss to Zimbabwe in a group match at Chelmsford in 1999 that meant they were eliminated when they tied their Australia semifinal.
After playing Zimbabwe, South Africa will be thrust into the World Cup spotlight in a match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
With its capacity of 100,018, the ground could hold almost all of the 104,128 South Africans who call Australia home. Trouble is, 448,430 Indian expats also live Down Under and, as South Africa experienced in a Champions Trophy match in Cardiff on June 6, Indian fans offer their team support that veers from extremely partisan to openly hostile.
Just how aggressive they will be could depend on the result of the uber-match between the defending champions and their enemy Pakistan in Adelaide a week earlier. "It only seems like yesterday that we won the World Cup in front of a passionate and supportive home crowd," Indian captain MS Dhoni was quoted as saying in an International Cricket Council (ICC) release on Tuesday.
South Africa’s next game, against West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, seems an easier proposition.
Except that the Windies have been responsible for dumping South Africa out of three ICC tournaments — more than any other side.
Ireland tend to punch above their weight, but it is difficult to imagine them beating the Proteas in their game in Canberra.
South Africa will hope they have qualified for the quarterfinals by then, because their next opponents are Pakistan in Auckland. Taking on cricket’s most dangerous team in a must-win game is not what World Cup dreams are made of. But there is insurance against that danger in the form of South Africa’s last group match against as yet unnamed qualifiers.
Although the tournament starts on Valentine’s Day, there will be no love lost over the course of the next month while the two groups of seven teams play each other.
The knockout stages start on March 18 and culminate in the final in Melbourne on March 29.
The ICC will strike agreements with law enforcement agencies in Australia and New Zealand to guard against corruption blighting the 2015 World Cup, CE David Richardson said on Tuesday.
Elite cricket has been rocked by corruption-related scandals in recent years that have swept up players, umpires and officials around the world. The 2015 World Cup, to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, is likely to generate huge global betting interest, raising fears that players might be targeted by rogue bookmakers with the promise of big pay-offs for cheating.
Richardson, South Africa’s former wicketkeeper, said the global body would work more closely with police in the co-host countries than in previous World Cups.
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