 The third game of the Champions Trophy will see South Africa play
the New Zealand side at Centurion. South Africa has already played one game and
they lost it to the Sri Lankans rather easily. New Zealand will be playing
their first game, and if they could relegate the hosts to a loss here, it could
very well end the hopes of the South Africans.
Click for Live Score Card of South Africa vs New Zealand
The South Africans will need to do some serious thinking about their bowling.
Having seen the Sri Lankans blast away against the South Africans in the first
game, the opening pair of Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum will be licking
their lips. McCullum may not have been in the best of his forms, but he would
relish this opportunity to bat at the top. And with the arsenal in the form
of Ross taylor, Martin Guptill, Grant Elliot and Neil Broom in the side,
it will be a difficult job for the Proteas bowlers. The spin may hold the key
for South Africans if they need to overcome the top half of the batting.
What would also bolster the Kiwis is the presence of Shane Bond and
Darryl Tuffey, both of whome have returned back from the unauthorized ICL. Even
better is the fact that Daniel Vettori would have seen that good quality
spin bowling has been South Africa's bane and cold introduce himself - and Jeetan
Patel - at crucial stages of the match.
The hosts will know that their dream of winning another such tournament will
soon be up in smoke if they lose their game against the Kiwis. They will need
to play with much more passion and aggression if they were to be looking at
not repeating a performance like the previous game. What was surprising then
was the fact the Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to field first
on what turned out to be a batting paradise.
Smith will need to think of batting first and piling on the runs, although,
it does seem that even if they field first their bowling needs to improve by
leaps and bounds. Wayne Parnell had had a good run in the T20Is, but
whether he is good enough to play the ODIs so early is a question-mark. His
line and length were woefully short of the desired ones, and there is a decent
chance that South Africa may opt to go for Makhaya Ntini, who missed
out of playing in the game.
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