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'Players hungry' South Africa's semifinal entry signals peaking form
Posted: Friday June 11, 1999 11:12 AM
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -- Title favorite South Africa became the first country to enter the semifinals of the seventh World Cup with a crushing 74-run victory over New Zealand that signaled its peaking at just the right time. But captain Hansie Cronje suggested after Thursday's victory at Edgbaston that the best is yet to come from his team, which made an imposing 287 and then restricted the Kiwis to 213 for eight in 50 overs. "Rather than everyone performing really well up until this stage, I think it will keep those [other] players hungry," Cronje said. "The semifinals and the final, that's when you really look at your players ... to come to the party and I'm sure they will," he said, "The guys are all ...determined to get some runs. I'm quite happy with the way it has built up," he said. Cronje's modest assessment notwithstanding, even the current level of South Africa's form should be enough to send ripples of concern among its rivals, chiefly Australia and Pakistan. The burly South Africans' ability to dig in for a big score, their power batting in the last overs and their variations with the ball were in full display against New Zealand at Edgbaston. "It is hard to feel disappointed ... we got pretty well outplayed," Kiwi captain Stephen Fleming acknowledged. Batting first after winning the toss, South African openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs put together 176 runs for the first wicket. Kirsten's 82 and Gibbs' 91 must have allayed Cronje's concerns about the recent failure of his top order, which had forced the team to depend on match winning knocks by all-rounder Lance Klusener in this tournament. But Klusener's uncharacteristic batting failure on Thursday became irrelevant as Kallis and Cronje put together 58 run in the last six overs to inflate the score from 229 for four to 287 for five in 50 overs. The domination of the bat was so absolute that New Zealand could not dismiss the first South African until the 37th over when Kirsten was out trying to paddle sweep Nathan Astle, giving an easy catch to Dion Nash at short mid-wicket. That brought in Klusener, armed with an awesome record of being unbeaten in the last nine innings with a tally of 396 runs. But Klusener had scored only four runs through a boundary when, facing his fifth ball, he took a wild swing across the line to get his off stump clipped by Gavin Larsen. Geoff Allott then accounted for Gibbs with a yorker, the swing bowler's 19th victim in the last six matches, a new record for the highest number of wickets in one World Cup. Kallis and Cronje completed the devastation of New Zealand's bowling, taking 24 runs including three sixes off Chris Cairns' final over, the 49th. Cronje said he was relieved to reach the semifinals after South Africa's quarterfinal elimination in the 1996 tournament and the semifinal defeat to England in 1992. "Obviously you can't come here and pick and choose [but] if you want to be world champions you have got to be able to beat everyone," Cronje said. Cronje's bowlers made short work of the Kiwi batting after Man of the Match Kallis took out openers Matthew Horne and Nathan Astle in the sixth and 12th over. From two for 34, the Black Caps tumbled to four for 107 as Cronje claimed No. 3 Craig McMillan and No. 4, Fleming, who top scored with 42 in a 64-ball, 64-minute innings. Despite the loss, the Kiwis still have a chance of reaching the semifinals if they defeat India on Saturday. "We just have to beat India and beat them well. It is a one-off match. It is simple. You either win or you go home," Fleming said.
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