As a restless Guyana stared at the skies hoping that the rains wouldn’t end the West Indian cricket party, there was a bunch of men from South Africa enjoying the overcast conditions and the freshness of the greenery around. While the locals were busy checking the Met Department predictions for the West Indies’ do-or-die game against Sri Lanka at the Providence Stadium, Makhaya Ntini had a song on his lips as he entered the Bourda Stadium for a relaxed net session. Ntini wished the waiting media in his recently-picked Guyanese accent as he headed with his teammates to check the wetness of the outfield and the dryness of the square below the cover. The sight of a relaxed South African side is a far cry from the team that had two forgettable warm-up games at Port-of-Spain just a month back. A loss to Pakistan and being reduced for 91/8 against Ireland meant South Africa needed a re-think. Their game picked up at the group stage as beating the Netherlands and Canada was not a problem and there are many at St Kitts who will vouch that if it wasn’t for Graeme Smith’s cramps, South Africa could have won the second leg of the runathon against Australia after their amazing win at the historic race at The Wanderers.Another reason for the overtly tranquil mood of the team today was their last win against Sri Lanka — a nail-biting last-ball finish, circumstances that South Africa are so famous to choke in. The best man to talk about it is the South African spinner Robin Peterson, who after multiple play-and-misses against Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas, finally managed an edge that reached the fence. Do those edges give you nightmares now? “Not really, we are just happy to get two points and the team is quite relaxed. We aren’t really bothered by the progress of the other teams, we are just concentrating on ourselves right now,” he says with a smile. As the offie is talking about his last match experience, the rest of the squad members, who are eternally grateful to the man of the moment, are still under the temporary hut, reluctant to step on the wet surface. The spring in Ntini’s steps doesn’t quite allow him to sit as he calls out to opener Herschelle Gibbs and sneaks behind Peterson. He makes faces as Peterson talks about the role of spinners in one-dayers and South Africa’s gradual realisation about the importance of slow bowlers. Despite the ribbing from teammates and a general laid-back atmosphere, Peterson makes some telling points about the role of spinners in one-dayers. He gives several reasons to include men of his tribe in the shorter version. “Spinners change the pace of a game, they force the batsmen to hit hard when the fields are big, they are a big help to captains when they are thinking in terms of over-rates and with their subtle variation, they can have the batsmen always thinking,” he says. But having survived the scare against Sri Lanka and games against Ireland and Bangladesh to play in the coming days, is the South African side too relaxed? That’s when Peterson gets serious and Ntini too backs out and heads towards the square. “I well remember the scare Ireland gave us on a seaming pitch at Trinidad and in this tournament of upsets, we can’t take anyone lightly,” he says. That is when one realises that the South Africans may be relaxed, but they’re certainly not complacent.
