No new plans for Klusener (17 May 1999)

17 May 1999

No new plans for Klusener

Trevor Chesterfield

LONDON - Although South Africa are not about give away too many secrets this early in the World Cup they have no plan to use Lance Klusener in the pinch hitter's role against Sri Lanka when the two meet in Northampton on Wednesday.

Which means the experiment with Mark Boucher at three is likely to continue at least until after the game against England at The Oval in London on Saturday. Well, that seems to be the strategy at this stage if Hansie Cronje's comments are a guide towards the next step of the campaign.

"Our aim is to win the first three matches and so far we have negotiated step one," he said at Hove on Saturday. "We are not worried about Mark at all. He has done a fine job so far."

Quite relaxed at the way South Africa beat India in Hove on Saturday, he said the planning for the second game in Group A was progressing well and was not worried about Boucher's dismissal for 34 when he was bowled by Anil Kumble's googly.

"He did not read the googly at all and is quite disappointed he got out the way he did. But it does not mean we are going to switch around the batting order. We have our plans and we are quite happy with the way the (batting) order is working," Cronje added.

Naturally South Africa's victory in their opening game of the tournament had been a most important result for Cronje and Co whose confirmation as 5/2 favourites at one stage seemed under threat at one stage.

Klusener scored only 12 on Saturday but the three scoring shots helped lift South Africa at a crucial late stage of the innings when they were needing 27 off 25 balls. The hard-hitting Natal all-rounder's aggressiveness took the game away from the India and helped Crone's side to earn two log points.

There was no whisper, however, of Gary Kirsten's dismissal being a worrying factor. The left-handed opener had scored two against Middlesex at Southgate almost a week ago waving his bat as if it was a feather duster out side the off. At Hove on Saturday he cut the ball into his stumps for about the 10th time in his last 25 limited-overs international innings.

At Hove he faced 23 balls before falling to Javagal Srinath for three. So with this in mind, there should be no worry at all if Boucher is not cause for concern. It shows the confidence the captain has in his troops.

Then again the tall Cronje, whose footwork against the India bowlers had a touch of magic about it during his thoughtful cameo innings of 27, was just as comfortable when handling the questions about the ear plug episode. He also admitted he had a good look at England's win over Sri Lanka at Lord's on Friday on television.

And he had been impressed by what he saw of some of the England bowling. No doubt the left-handed Alan Mullally came to mind. But coaches Bob Woolmer and Graham Ford will no doubt work out whether Kirsten will find Mullally a problem on Saturday.

As for the win over India, Cronje was complimentary about how India's pairing of Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid had built the innings and admitted there had been some 'bother about the game getting away from us'. But getting the wickets of both batsmen in the last 10 overs had done as much as anything to cut back India's total to 253 for five in their 50 overs.

There was also praise for man of the match Jacques Kallis for his role in holding the South African innings together while the verdict on Allan Donald's bowling was also given the thumbs up sign.

"I thought he came through very strongly and his general performance was very good," Cronje added.

Source :: Trevor Chesterfield