Game 1, Group A - South Africa vs West Indies at Johannesburg
Well, the first game is not too far away and we are about to head into the unknown. We have only ever had 16 games in total of this Twenty20 format and this is first time that we have ever had an international tournament based on Twenty20 cricket.
We should be in for an entertaining contest, the South Africans have a sophisticated Twenty20 domestic competition similar to England's so we may see those two countries emerge as the frontrunners for this inaugural trophy.
But, back to this game. South Africa will be keen to impress in their home tournament and their fans will expect nothing less. The Proteas were great against Australia in their last warm-up game, Graeme Smith and co proved to be very good hitters of the ball and players like Boucher, Pollock and Gibbs will look forward to smashing everything in sight.
West Indies have their hitters too, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels can hit the ball a long way. Samuels has struck at over 200 runs per ball in the two practice matches he has played.
South Africa XI: 1 Graeme Smith*, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Mark Boucher+, 5 Justin Kemp, 6 Shaun Pollock, 7 Makhaya Ntini, 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan van der wath, 10 Vernon Philander, 11 Morne Morkel.
West Indies XI: 1 Chris Gayle*, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin+, 8 Dwayne Smith, 9 Daren Powell, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Fidel Edwards.
South Africa have a bowler-favoured line-up there. However, Shaun Pollock may just be playing as a batsman. Van der Wath and Philander add some bite to the tail too.
Pretty standard side from the Windies. One all-rounder in Bravo and then four bowlers make up the tail. Only five batters but then again, South Africa only have five recognized batters also. Maybe they know something we don't.
Anyway, this will be an exciting fixture. Aim of the game is slog, slog, slog!!
Toss: South Africa who will bowl first.
Umpires: Mark Benson and Daryl Harper
3rd Umpire: Nigel Llong
Weather:
(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)
Fine and Clear.
Current Temp: 25
Expected Min: 15
Game starts at 12am AWST Wednesday September 12 (6pm local time, 4pm GMT).
Well, the first game is not too far away and we are about to head into the unknown. We have only ever had 16 games in total of this Twenty20 format and this is first time that we have ever had an international tournament based on Twenty20 cricket.
We should be in for an entertaining contest, the South Africans have a sophisticated Twenty20 domestic competition similar to England's so we may see those two countries emerge as the frontrunners for this inaugural trophy.
But, back to this game. South Africa will be keen to impress in their home tournament and their fans will expect nothing less. The Proteas were great against Australia in their last warm-up game, Graeme Smith and co proved to be very good hitters of the ball and players like Boucher, Pollock and Gibbs will look forward to smashing everything in sight.
West Indies have their hitters too, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels can hit the ball a long way. Samuels has struck at over 200 runs per ball in the two practice matches he has played.
South Africa XI: 1 Graeme Smith*, 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Mark Boucher+, 5 Justin Kemp, 6 Shaun Pollock, 7 Makhaya Ntini, 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Johan van der wath, 10 Vernon Philander, 11 Morne Morkel.
West Indies XI: 1 Chris Gayle*, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Denesh Ramdin+, 8 Dwayne Smith, 9 Daren Powell, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Fidel Edwards.
South Africa have a bowler-favoured line-up there. However, Shaun Pollock may just be playing as a batsman. Van der Wath and Philander add some bite to the tail too.
Pretty standard side from the Windies. One all-rounder in Bravo and then four bowlers make up the tail. Only five batters but then again, South Africa only have five recognized batters also. Maybe they know something we don't.
Anyway, this will be an exciting fixture. Aim of the game is slog, slog, slog!!
Toss: South Africa who will bowl first.
Umpires: Mark Benson and Daryl Harper
3rd Umpire: Nigel Llong
Weather:
(All Temperatures in Degrees Celcius)
Fine and Clear.
Current Temp: 25
Expected Min: 15
Game starts at 12am AWST Wednesday September 12 (6pm local time, 4pm GMT).
