adminSYDNEY. — South Africa will continue to build on their intensity in their final Cricket World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand but their focus is very much on their first game of the tournament proper, Faf du Plessis said yesterday. The Proteas are coming off an impressive five-wicket win on the Duckworth/Lewis method over Sri Lanka in their first warm-up game and will play New Zealand tomorrow in their last hit out before opening their World Cup against Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Du Plessis said that while the practice matches served a purpose they did not replicate the intensity that official one-day internationals produce.
“For New Zealand tomorrow there will be a little bit more intensity because we are getting closer to the first (World Cup) game but we will build up towards the game against Zimbabwe,” Du Plessis told a news conference.
“We have played quite a lot of cricket in the last month or so and we are ready to play now. It is quite a long tournament and you need to be mentally fresh right through the competition.
“Yesterday was quite low-key for us but to get over the line and do what we did yesterday was really good practice,” he added.
However, Du Plessis did concede that the Proteas had taken a number of positives out of the game against Sri Lanka as the South Africans were set a challenging total of 188 off 25 overs.
Quinton de Kock showed that he is back to his best after an ankle injury with 66 off 55 balls while the Proteas did well to achieve their victory target with three balls to spare.
“We played a really good game of cricket, especially chasing with the bat. We needed to chase 180 in 25 or 30 overs. Obviously we had a really good start with Hashim and Quinny (De Kock) and then there was an opportunity to put some pressure on ourselves in the middle order and try to get through.
“Personally I was glad to be a part of that and for us as a team to get across the line. It is difficult to test yourself in warm up games because it is not normally as intense as a normal game. You can only try and make it intense and the situation we had was perfect for us.”
Du Plessis went on to say that if they could be put under pressure by New Zealand then the warm-up match could be important but that the team would not be taking the result to heart.
“Hopefully we get an opportunity to get some match intensity going. Whether it’s bowling at the death or we get another situation where we can learn something.
“Hopefully, New Zealand will put us in a position where we can learn something and take it into our first opener. Maybe at the death where there are a couple of big hitters and our bowlers can test their skills. In saying that tomorrow will be like a practice session for us.
“It’s taken so long. The build-up to the World Cup has almost been a year now. We are very excited, as a team. We are ready. We have played a lot of cricket and we just want to get going now. The important thing is that we are not seeing too much in these warm-ups. All our focus is geared up towards that first game against Zimbabwe,” he concluded. — AFP.
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