Just when you thought it was safe to go back to watching rugby, along comes another cricket team.
As the Australian cricket team flew out of South Africa on Wednesday, bound for a two-Test series against Bangladesh, their Australasian cousins — the New Zealand cricket team — arrived here for a three-Test series against South Africa.
Team captain Stephen Fleming was at pains to downplay New Zealand’s status as favourites, following South Africa’s three-nil whitewash at the hands of Australia.
”Playing against Australia is tough, and South Africa will be tougher than normal after a long series against Australia,” said Fleming. ”Australia always push you to the limit, and while we didn’t see all of the games, we saw enough to know that the Tests were closer than the results showed.
”South Africa are always a tough side to play — especially at home — and so we won’t be reading too much into the outcome of the series against Australia.”
Fleming said New Zealand have just come out of a good series against the West Indies, which New Zealand won two-nil. ”It was a good series, and we were pleased with the way we played.”
He said New Zealand would not be copying the way Australia approached the series against South Africa.
”I think you fall into a trap if you try to emulate them,” said Fleming. ”We’ve got to focus on the skills we have in our own side. We’ve got a fairly good idea, through research, of the strengths and weaknesses in the South African side, and we will work on those.
”We’ve brought along a pretty strong squad. With Shane Bond fit, and Jacob Oram back in the side, we’re happy with the fitness and quality of the side we’ve brought along.”
The New Zealand captain was unperturbed about playing cricket so late in the South African summer — the last Test, at the Wanderers, starts in May.
”It’ll be similar to New Zealand — we have fairly cold summers, so we’ll be geared for it. But the series does come on the back of a long hard season for both sides, so I guess the problem will be maintaining the enthusiasm for another Test series.”
Asked if New Zealand were favourites to win the Test series, Fleming had a one-word answer: ”No”.
New Zealand open their tour with a four-day match against the Rest of South Africa at Willowmoore Park in Benoni. The first Test will be played at Supersport Park in Centurion, starting at 9.30am on Saturday April 15. — Sapa