11-24 September 2007
WORLD TWENTY20 Super Eights, Durban:
South Africa v New Zealand
Match starts at 1300 BST on Wednesday
South Africa coach Mickey Arthur hopes Herschelle Gibbs will be fit to face New Zealand in their ICC World Twenty20 Super Eights match on Wednesday. South Africa will clinch a semi-final place if they win - a result which would eliminate England and India. Gibbs injured a hamstring in the opening match of the tournament. "We're quite keen to get him ready but he'll have to go through another fitness test before the match," said Arthur ahead of the game in Durban. South Africa v New Zealand
Match starts at 1300 BST on Wednesday
"We don't want to leave it to the last game, we don't want a do-or-die affair against India," Arthur continued. "We'd like to button our fate up and if we win we're pretty much certain of qualification."
Arthur said all-rounder Albie Morkel, who smashed 41 off 29 balls to guide South Africa to a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh, would again be a key man for them. "He's given us momentum and we can use him at any time in the innings," Arthur said. "You can't leave him sitting in the dressing-room, he needs to bat at some stage because he's really explosive." Arthur believes South Africa and New Zealand - who beat England by five runs in Durban on Tuesday - have similar strengths. "The format suits sides with a lot of all-rounders, teams who can bat deep and who can have seven or eight bowlers," Arthur said. "We're quite lucky that way and so are New Zealand." New Zealand have one foot in the semi-finals, but skipper Daniel Vettori is determined to finish the job off in Durban. He said: "We just want to win games and while we're pretty close to those semi-finals, we've still got the South Africa game. "We'd like to finish first in the group and conceivably get an easier semi-final."
Source: BBC Sport
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