South Africa captain Graeme Smith may be missing from action, but his side will be going all out to complete an unprecedented clean sweep of a one-day international series against the West Indies in the Caribbean when the last two matches of their best-of-five series are played on Saturday and Sunday.
The South Africans took an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the series, after an incredible last over hat-trick from Charl Langeveldt brought them back from the brink of defeat, and handed them a stunning one-run victory with one ball to spare on Wednesday at Bridgetown.
The visitors also won the first two matches of the series at Kingston by the same margin of eight wickets, and victory in both of this weekend’s matches would see them achieve the first sweep of any kind in an international series in the Caribbean. But they will have to do it without Smith.
The South Africa captain has been handed a four-match ban and fined 30% of his match fee because of a slow over-rate during Wednesday’s thriller, while his team-mates have each been fined 15% of their match fee.
”We have won the series, but it is a bit disappointing that we had to receive an over rate fine,” Smith told reporters on the eve of the Queen’s Park Oval double header.
”We will have to accept it. That’s the rule. I do not know if I completely agree with a four-match ban, and so I will just have to live with it.
”I do not think I will appeal it though. That may be dangerous. I think it may be better for me to serve out the ban and get it over and done with, so I will take it on the chin and leave it to the International Cricket Council to review their rules and take it from there.”
Former captain Shaun Pollock has been handed the responsibility of leading the side in the two matches, and Smith believes the intensity will still be there for the South Africans.
”We want to win all the games, but what may hamper us is one or two injuries that we have picked up,” he said.
”It offers some of the other guys an opportunity to come into the side and perform well, and this often bodes well. Someone who has not had opportunity to play yet may come and perform well, so everyone is motivated to play in Trinidad.”
He added: ”We can’t take West Indies granted. In ODI cricket, it takes one good performance from an individual to win a game, so we cannot take them for granted.
”We are looking to improve on our performance in Barbados because we did not play up to the best of our abilities — we scored about 20 or 30 runs short, and bowled two extra overs at least — and it cost us a fine for over rates, and made the match tight.”
A demoralised West Indies will now have to rebound from Wednesday’s defeat.
”We are looking to win these two matches to get into the groove as we prepare for the next series against Pakistan that starts next Wednesday, so we are looking to put some wins behind us,” said West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
”We did well in the previous match in comparison to the first two games. I am hoping that we take the positives out of that match into this weekend. If we can play as well as we did, but correct the outcome, I think it will be good for us.”
Chanderpaul too, could not find words to explain what happened at Bridgetown, but feels it taught his side a lesson.
”Obviously, it was hurtful to have gone that far and lost the match at the stage we did,” he said.
”Nobody expected us to lose the game from that position. It was really sad that we lost it there, but the positives are still there. We got that close, and hopefully next time the guys will have the knowledge of how to carry it through all the way.
”We have to hang tough and stay positive. We are trying to build a team with some young players. Hopefully, we can start to see a little bit more maturity and take the team in the direction that we all want it to go.”
In the last 10 ODIs at Queen’s Park Oval, West Indies have won only three times, and the last time the two teams met at the ground, South Africa came away with a 53-run victory. ‒ Sapa-AFP