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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007>Will Graeme Smith realize the South African World Cup dream? 23rd Feb 2007 22.23 IST By Manish Kumar It is more by ill-luck rather than poor cricket by the South Africans that they still haven’t won the World Cup. South Africa have an unfortunate record in almost all the World Cup tournaments. The 1992 World Cup in Australia, featured a rain-affected match played before the introduction of the Duckworth-Lewis method. As a result, South Africa were left in the ludicrous situation of requiring 22 runs from one ball against England in order to progress.
South Africa hosted the 2003 World Cup, but failed to progress beyond the group stage due to a misunderstanding of how many runs they needed to score in a rain-affected run chase. As a result of this, Shaun Pollock resigned as captain and was replaced by young Graeme Smith, who then at the age of 22, became the youngest ever cricketer to captain South Africa. Here is a brief look at the players South Africa would be banking upon for their maiden World Cup title that unfolds next month in the West Indies: South Africa have an able leader in Graeme Smith , whose greatest achievement perhaps is leading his team to 17 consecutive undefeated matches in ODIs in 2005. Despite receiving much criticism when he was initially chosen to captain South Africa, Smith has since earned the respect and recognition of the international cricketing community. This was shown when he was selected to captain the ICC World XI in the ICC Super Series Test Match between the ICC World XI and Australia in October 2005. He also captained South Africa in their win over Australia in their ODI series win in a prolific 5th ODI in Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, on March 12, 2006. South Africa beat Australia by achieving the highest score ever recorded in an ODI, 438/9. Smith played a vital role in setting up the victory scoring a blazing 90 runs off only 55 balls and was involved in a second wicket partnership of 187 runs with Herschelle Gibbs. On January 3, 2007 against India at Cape Town, Smith brought up his 4000th Test run. He is the second youngest player in Test history to reach the milestone at 25 years and 336 days behind Sachin Tendulkar (24 years and 224 days). In the first ODI against Pakistan on February 4, 2007, Smith hit an over of Rana Naved for 27 runs and became the first player in ODI history to hit 6 fours off an over. The South African batting mainstay is Jacques Henry Kallis , who is also arguably one of the best all-rounders in the modern game, he is a dogged right-handed batsman and muscular fast-medium bowler who can swing the ball both ways off a good line and length. In September 2006, he became the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 8,000 runs and 200 wickets in both Test and ODI cricket. Sanath Teran Jayasuriya has achieved that feat in ODIs but not Tests, and Garfield Sobers achieved it in Tests only. In Herschelle Gibbs , South Africa have an explosive batsman, who when gets going, can turn any match on its head the best example of which is his monumental innings against Australia, scoring 175 off just 111 balls leading South Africa to victory in the highest scoring ODI in history. It was the highest ever score made in an ODI against Australia, beating Robin Smith's effort in 1993. By bringing up his hundred off just 79 balls he also brought up what was at the time the fastest ever ODI century against Australia and also the fastest ever hundred by a South African batsman against any opposition at that time. It was also the highest ever score by a batsman in South Africa. He scored 126 runs in boundaries, the most ever by a batsman. Gibbs is also one of only three batsmen in ODI history to score hundreds in 3 consecutive innings, with the others being Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar . Apart from that, Gibbs is also a superb fielder and since the 1999 World Cup, has effected the highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket for any fielder. Another explosive hitter in the South African line-up is Justin Kemp , whose batting is noted for the high frequency of sixes, particularly those which are hit out of the stadium. On November 26, 2006, in the third ODI of the series between India and South Africa, South Africa were 137/7 when Kemp came in and smashed his way to his maiden ODI century with the help of Andrew Hall. Together they put on a world record 8th wicket stand of 138 and took their team to victory. In Mark Verdon Boucher South Africa have one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen in world cricket. Boucher is widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest wicketkeeper South Africa have ever had, and lies first on the all-time list of most catches in Test cricket with 376 (as of February 21, 2007), having overtaken the former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy with 366. He is also second on the all-time list in one-day internationals, behind the current Australian keeper Adam Gilchrist . His maiden ODI century, on September 20, 2006, was an unbeaten 147 against Zimbabwe from a mere 68 balls. His hundred came up off just 44 balls, the second-fastest ODI century ever. During the ODI series against India in November 2006, he became the first player ever to feature in hundred consecutive ODIs for a country. The bowling hopes for South Africa rest on the veteran Shaun Maclean Pollock , who is South Africa’s highest wicket taker in both ODIs and Tests and has the lowest economy rate of any bowler to have taken 300 ODI wickets. His main weapons are his unwavering accuracy, reliability and his ability to make the ball swing both ways. He is also in command of a bouncer, which rushes on to the batsman. He is also a very useful hard-hitting batsman who boasts of good Test and ODI averages. His fielding, both on the outfield and occasionally in the slip region, makes him all the more potent. Aiding Pollock in the bowling department would be Makhaya Ntini who is the first black player to play for the South African team and is now only the third South African to take 300 Test wickets after Pollock and Allan Anthony Donald , and to reach second place in the ICC Test match bowling ratings. Ntini became the first South African to take 10 wickets in a Test match at Lord's in 2003, and then he set the South African bowling record with 13/132 against the West Indies in Trinidad in 2005. Ntini was the world's best fast bowler in the 2005-06 season with 48 wickets, and has become the lynchpin of the Proteas' attack. These match-winners will be aided by Loots Bosman, AB de Villiers, Andrew Hall, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Robin Peterson, Ashwell Prince and Roger Telemachus as South Africa look to win their maiden World Cup title. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: South Africa Team Page: Australia | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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