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WORLD CUP OF CRICKET 2007, WEST INDIES |
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Team
South Africa
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Introduction
The team of South Africa is commonly known as the ‘Proteas’. South Africa played the fist test match in March 1889 against England. It was the third nation to have ever played a test match. However, in 1970, the nation was indefinitely suspended from international cricket by the ICC. The major reason behind this was the government’s policies which led the South African team to play only against the white players. However, the ICC reinstated South Africa as a test nation in 1991. The country played its first ever ODI against India on 10th November 1991 in Calcutta, India.
World cup achievements
South African team has an unfortunate record of failing to win the major tournaments. In the 1992 cricket World Cup, before the introduction of the Duckworth Lewis method, due to the rains, South Africa was left in the impossible situation of acquiring 22 runs off just one ball. In the 1996 World Cup, the South African team reached the quarter finals but did not proceed ahead. Again in the 1999 World Cup, the Africans had secured a place in the semi finals but were knocked out since Australia had finished the super six match in a tie. Australia had previously beaten South Africa and so the Australian team was preferred over the African Team. In 1998, South Africa won the inaugural ICC Champions Trophy beating West Indies in the finals. In the same year, the team also won the gold medal for cricket in the Common wealth games. In 2003, the country had hosted the World Cup but lost in the first round itself. Currently, according to the ICC rankings, in the one day international cricket, South Africa is ranked first. It will now be interesting to see how the team of South Africa at the World Cup of Cricket 2007 performs and maintains its rank.
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Top players:
The current captain of the South African cricket team is Graeme Smith. Shaun Pollock, Herscelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Makhaya Ntini along with the captain are the top players to watch for in the team of South Africa at the World Cup of Cricket 2007. Mark Boucher holds a record for the most number of catches in the test cricket. Herscelle Gibbs has hit a number of double centuries and on 12th March 2006 in an ODI against Australia, he scored a whooping 175 runs off 111 balls setting new world records. The players from South Africa who feature in the top ten rankings are as follows
Test matches:
Jacques Kallis: 7th rank: top ten batsmen; 1st rank: all rounder rankings
Makhaya Ntini: 2nd rank: top ten bowlers
Shaun Pollock: 4th rank: top ten bowlers; 3rd rank: all rounder rankings
ODI matches:
Graeme Smith: 9th rank: top ten batsmen
Shaun Pollock: 1st rank: top ten bowlers; 1st rank: all rounder rankings
Makhaya Ntini: 3rd rank: top ten bowlers
Jacques Kallis: 4th rank: all rounder rankings
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