Tahir and de Villiers get the Proteas World Cup underway

There was a lot of speculation about the team selection going into the first Cricket World Cup match against the West Indies, most of which revolved around the possibility of playing three spinners.

I was doubtful we would field three spinners, it seemed to much of a gamble against some of the big hitters of West Indian cricket in Chris Gayle and Kieran Pollard. The selection of the third spinner also then sacrificed a batsman, which would mean that the top five would have to perform with the bat. I also thought that the third spinner would be made up by JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis.

I had it all wrong.

The Proteas did pick three spinners, and The Proteas even opened the bowling with Johan Botha, only the sixth time this has happened, and Botha achieve success with the wicket of Gayle from the second ball of the innings.

Imran Tahir bowled fantastically in his debut game for the Proteas, returning figures of 10 overs, 1 maiden, 41 runs, 4 wickets at 4.1 per over. Tahir’s bowling performance is a comforting factor, great things are expected of this man.

The Proteas needed a menial 223 runs for victory against a mediocre West Indies bowling attack that suffered the loss of one of their main bowlers, Dwayne Bravo early in the innings with an injury to his knee.

The might Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis departed early, leaving captain Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers with the responsibility of getting the team home. The chase seemed easy for de Villiers as he went onto score his second World Cup century and the fastest by a South African at the World Cup. This is again an important performance for the Proteas, de Villiers struggled in the series against India this innings of 107* (105), but more importantly the middle order performance including JP Duminy’s 42* (54) will continue to allow the national selectors to pick the extra bowler in the team.

The Proteas are off to the perfect start, now onto Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh to play Netherlands.

3 Responses to “Tahir and de Villiers get the Proteas World Cup underway”

Tsvi Shain says:
February 25, 2011 at 11:25 am

yeah great performance overall.
Mossytime says:
February 25, 2011 at 4:23 pm

Let’s all celebrate Ricky Ponting’s magnificent 12 runs tonight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy8nTNGaZIA
nthabi says:
February 26, 2011 at 6:18 am

I’m so happy 4 wat they dd 4 us al I eva wish ws 2 c the trophy home hence I’m so 100% behind u. Al de best