Gary Kirsten, the coach of the South African team has predicted that his team will be at the top of the cricket world in the near future.
England is at the top of the ICC Test ranking with a rating of 118 which they have earned after having played 41 matches and having collected 4830 points. South Africa is at the second position with 3709 points from 32 matches, they have a rating of 116 and they are close to reaching the peaks.
The Proteas are at the second spot in the ICC One Day International Championship with a ranking of 118 after Australia which has 123. They are placed at no.2 in the Twenty20 Championship after they have achieved a ranking of 119 as England holds the top spot with 129.
South Africa started the 2011-12 season by clinching the first Test against Sri Lanka by a huge margin of an innings and 81 runs. The match was played at Centurion on December15, 16 and 17, 2011 and proved one sided encounter.
The visitors came strongly in the second Test at Kingsmead, Durban, played on December 26, 27, 28 and 29, 2011 and won the match with a margin of 208 runs.
The Proteas bounced back in the third and final match of the series which was held on January 3, 4, 5 and 6, 2012 at Cape Town and won that by 10 wickets and the series was taken 2-1.
The home side went on to win the five ODIs series 3-2 and proved their dominance in the limited over cricket.
South Africa visited New Zealand in February – March 2012 and started the series by playing three T20s. The Kiwis won the first match by 20 runs at Westpac Stadium, Wellington on February 17, 2012. The Proteas won the remaining two games played at Hamilton and Auckland on February 19 and 22nd respectively, hence won the series 2-1.
They secured a whitewash in the three match ODI series 3-0 and humiliated the Black Caps by outplaying them in all departments of the game.
The South Africans concluded their tour on a high note by grabbing the three Test series 1-0. They were in a strong position to win the series 3-0 but rain rescued the home side in the first and third Test.
Kirsten was pleased with the performance of his team who remain united as a unit under the new management and have produced booming results. He said,
“It was nice to go on tour and connect with all the players. We have new management, and some new players, and we were a long way from home, but we connected well as a unit. There were some really positive signs in all the formats in terms of our combinations and how we’re trying to take things forward, so I thought it was a highly successful tour.”
Kirsten has strengthened India and took them to heights of the international cricket during his coaching tenure with them as the Blue Shirts won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and Test no.1 ranking as well.
South Africa will be proceeding to England in the July 2012, where they will take part in three Tests, five ODIs and three T20s against the home side. The Proteas have an excellent chance to beat England keeping in view their recent performance and Kirsten believes his team is in a position to achieve that by clinching the no.1 spot. He further commented,
“We’ve set ourselves some lofty standards, and we want to be the best team in world cricket, so we’re very excited about where we’re going.”
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