Inzamam out of 1ST ODI

South Africa, Pakistan in warm-up for World Cup



CENTURION: South Africa captain Graeme Smith says Pakistan would provide strong opposition in a battle between the second and third teams on the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings, as their five-match One-day International series starts today (Sunday) here at SuperSport Park.

South Africa and Pakistan now switch from Test to one-day cricket, the last chance for both teams to tune up ahead of next month's Cricket World Cup in the West Indies.

On Friday, Pakistan were devastated by South Africa in Johannesburg in the only Twenty20 International of the tour. The visitors were restricted to 129-8 as South Africa reached 132 in a mere 11.3 without losing any wickets.

South Africa's 15-man squad for the series is their probable World Cup party, while Pakistan have named a 17-man squad for the series, indicating they need to do some fine tuning ahead of the tournament in the Caribbean.

"It's taken us two years to build our one-day team," said Smith. "We've been pretty consistent in one-day cricket over the last few years and we would like to carry that on going forward to the World Cup. We're a powerful one-day team and we're confident.

"It should be a fantastic series. They've got some world-class players and a good all-round team of one-day players. In South Africa we've had the better of them but we've got to show them a lot of respect."

South Africa trounced India 4-0 in a one-day series earlier in their home season but will seek more consistency from their top-order batsmen, particularly openers Smith and AB de Villiers, to unlock the potential of quick-scoring players like Kemp, Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock.

South Africa named only one specialist spin bowler, Robin Peterson, in their squad and are expected to stick to their traditional strength in seam bowling backed by athletic fielding.

Pakistan will be captained by Younis Khan as Inzamam-ul-Haq has been rendered hors de combat due to a back problem.





btw can someone explain to me what hors de combat means

it is a Punjabi term for "out of the fight" or injured. mostly used in the southern area. first used in the kabaddi match between railways and wapda

Where's the link?

not too many kabaddi sites who keep track of matches. I think this match was played in 1958

i think hes talking about this link:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=41479

Yes I was. Thanks

thats a major blow.. inzi not playing..

With Inzi out of the 1st ODI, (Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=41479), and Younis Khan stepping in as captain, how many runs can we expect from him?

The 6 limited overs matches that he has captained in his career have resulted in him having scores of: 40, 15, 7, 2, 7, and 1. Just thought I'd throw that in there while we're waiting for the match to start.

his batting always flops when he captains the side. something that needs a bit of thinking.

-5 and a fight in the dressing room with afridi

i never expect much from younis in odi's anyway

Thats a big big blow for pakistan.

Who is going to replace him ?? Kami ??

possibly Imran Nazir. that might be exciting!