Indian bowling progressively deteriorating

The determination with which the South African cricket team has played its matches has a lot to do with the fact that the South African r...

The determination with which the South African cricket team has played its matches has a lot to do with the fact that the South African rugby team recently won the World Cup.

Obviously, Cronje and his boys are looking to give folks back home something more to cheer about. Quite simply, South Africa8217;s biggest asset is Lance Klusener batting at number 9, which effectively eliminates a tail.

At The Oval on Saturday, England had no answer to the pace of Allan Donald. Donald may not be as quick as Shoaib Akhtar, but he can raise his game when the situation demands. England and Australia, specially, seem to bring out the best in him, except perhaps when he comes across Brian Lara. In Shaun Pollock and Klusener South Africa have two of the best all-rounders in the one-day game. Both would walk into any World XI with ease.

Coming back to the match, England were outclassed in all departments of the game. They tend to rely too heavily on Graeme Hick, which causes all sorts of problems for them once he gets out.Unlike India, West Indies, and to a certain extent, England, the South Africans never rely on any one individual to get them out of trouble. Their team has always lacked personalities, which is their greatest strength.

Looking at the match from another angle, England8217;s defeat spells good news for India, because a demoralised England will be that much easier to play in next Sunday8217;s needle match at Edgbaston. After their defeat against Zimbabwe, the Indians will have to win all their matches and have begun in style against the less fancied Kenyans. Sri Lanka and England will be slightly tougher propositions, however, and India must do something about their bowling, which has been progressively deteriorating since their opening match against South Africa.

The return of Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly good news for the team, specially in the light of his wonderful knock against Kenya. However, I repeat that Sri Lanka and England are not Kenya, and Sachin will have to come good in at least one of the twomatches if he is to play his part in India8217;s campaign.

Sunday8217;s match between Pakistan and Australia was a cliff-hanger. Going by current form, Pakistan seems to be the only team that can stand up to the might of the South Africans. Australia, on the other hand, look a trifle jaded. Perhaps the closely fought series in the West Indies has taken a toll on them. However, the Aussies still have a chance in the tournament and are always a threat. We must remember that they are yet to play the West Indies, in what promises to be a grand finale to the league stage.

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Personally speaking, I am happy at the splendid show put up by South Africa so far. I hope they do not choke as the big matches near, because they seem to be the best team on view right now.

8211;Gameplan Syndication