j

Saturday November 24, 2007

DUBAI (ICC) - South Africa, fresh from its comprehensive 2-0 Test series win over New Zealand, will look to inflict more hardship on the Black Caps when the two sides go head-to-head in a three-match ODI series that starts on Sunday.

And if Graeme Smith’s side can win all three games, in Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, it can move to within two rating points of Australia, the side currently on top of the LG ICC ODI Championship table.

The Proteas did secure the lead in the listing, albeit briefly, in late March after Australia lost six matches in quick succession – three to England and three to New Zealand – but Ricky Ponting’s line-up quickly regained its stride and went through the ICC Cricket World Cup without a single defeat.

However, South Africa’s excellent form in seeing off Pakistan in October/November means it is now once again within touching distance of top spot.

Smith’s team is currently five points behind Australia, while New Zealand, in third position, is a further nine points back. But if the Black Caps lose those three matches then Daniel Vettori’s side will find itself slipping down to fourth place in the table with 109 points, with India taking over the position as the team closest to the top two in the ladder.

In truth, New Zealand’s players could probably do with something to cheer themselves up after two heavy Test defeats in Johannesburg (358 runs) and Centurion (an innings and 59 runs) in only seven playing days and something that might fit the bill is the prospect of them taking over second spot in the LG ICC ODI Championship table if they can win all three matches in the upcoming series.

If they could do that then New Zealand would gain six rating points (giving it a total of 120) while dropping South Africa’s haul by five (to 118).

Of course, that will be easier said than done, especially as the visitors will be without the player that sits second in the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, paceman Shane Bond, who returned home injured after breaking down during the first Test.

In Bond’s absence, New Zealand still has two other players in the bowling top 20 – captain Vettori in sixth spot and all-rounder Jacob Oram, who missed the second Test with a hamstring injury, lying in 18th position. That compares to three South Africans: Shaun Pollock, left out of the Test side, still tops the ODI bowling chart, Makhaya Ntini is in seventh position and his fellow fast bowler, Andre Nel, is in 14th place.

Meanwhile, the contrast between the two sides in terms of representatives inside the top 20 of the LG ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen will not have New Zealand supporters dancing in the streets. South Africa has four players in that elite group – Smith (fourth), Herschelle Gibbs (12th), AB de Villiers (16th) and Jacques Kallis (17th) – but the visiting side has none, with its best-placed player former captain Stephen Fleming in 23rd position.

The top of that batting list is dominated by Australia with Ponting, Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden making it a 1-2-3 for the world champions.

South Africa can claim primacy in the all-rounder listing with Pollock topping the group, clear of the West Indies’ Chris Gayle, while Kallis is in fifth position. Scott Styris (sixth) and Oram (seventh) are the highest-placed New Zealand players in that table.

The schedule for the South Africa – New Zealand ODI series is as follows:

25 November – first ODI, Durban

30 November – second ODI, Port Elizabeth