South Africa’s stand-in skipper Jacques Kallis said his team will have to put their best foot forward to beat India irrespective of the fact that many of the rival camp players were down with fever.
“We will have to play some good, hard cricket to beat India. It does not matter what side they field tomorrow, we will have to play a really good game. That is the goal in front of us,” Kallis said here on Monday.
“We have a potent new-ball attack, and we will have to take early wickets as India have a world class batting line-up,” he added.
Kallis said a score of around 250 will be par for the course at the Stormont ground.
“I had a look at the track, and I think a score of around 250 will be pretty competitive in this ground and conditions. I believe we have bowlers with us to utilise the conditions here.”
“The pitch here has a touch of green to it and it might seam as well early on. So it should help our bowlers and hopefully they can come up with a good show tomorrow. That will help us a long way to make a good start to the season,” he said.
South Africa have come to the Ireland series without their regular skipper Graeme Smith, who is recovering from a knee surgery, and veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock, who was rested for the series. Kallis refused to see it as a negative point.
“Obviously you will miss guys with as much experience as Graeme and Polly. But we have to look at the positive side as well. This is a good chance for some youngsters to put their hands up and come up with a big performance,” he said.
“We have some good youngsters with us. Vernon (Philander) has showed against Ireland what he is capable of. Let’s see what Thandi (Tshabalala) has to offer.”