The two best cricketing teams in the world will come face to face in the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2011 on Thursday, February 24, 2011, when South Africa will take on West Indies. As if the stalwart status of the two teams was not enough to heighten the excitement, the virgin pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi, India, where the match is to be played, will add to the anxiety and enthusiasm.
Feroz Shah Stadium in New Delhi was banned early last year after the match between India and Sri Lanka in which players on both the sides suffered bodily harm due to excessive bounce in the pitch. After that, no One Day Internationals have been played on the grassy pitch and the last time a home match was played here was in November 2010.
Invoice
The ICC pitch analyst and consultant is in the city since a week, supervising over the pitch preparation. He will sit through the entire match and observe the performance of the pitch. Andy Atkinson, the ICC pitch analyst has not expressed any concerns over how the pitch may behave, but then even if he were concerned, he wouldn’t let his concern show or if things were not in good shape, he wouldn’t have given the nod for the match to be played here.
Coming to the today’s teams’ line up, South Africa has an edge over West Indies. Its batsmen and bowlers have better performance rate, strike rate, average and economy. Jacques Kalis, Abe De Villiers and Hashim Amla are in their best forms. This does not imply that one is to underrate the West Indies players like Shivnarayan Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo.
The spectators anticipate an exciting match and the odds for winning are very narrow for either of the teams. Talk about the Clash of the Titans!
Feroz Shah Stadium in New Delhi was banned early last year after the match between India and Sri Lanka in which players on both the sides suffered bodily harm due to excessive bounce in the pitch. After that, no One Day Internationals have been played on the grassy pitch and the last time a home match was played here was in November 2010.
Invoice
The ICC pitch analyst and consultant is in the city since a week, supervising over the pitch preparation. He will sit through the entire match and observe the performance of the pitch. Andy Atkinson, the ICC pitch analyst has not expressed any concerns over how the pitch may behave, but then even if he were concerned, he wouldn’t let his concern show or if things were not in good shape, he wouldn’t have given the nod for the match to be played here.
Coming to the today’s teams’ line up, South Africa has an edge over West Indies. Its batsmen and bowlers have better performance rate, strike rate, average and economy. Jacques Kalis, Abe De Villiers and Hashim Amla are in their best forms. This does not imply that one is to underrate the West Indies players like Shivnarayan Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo.
The spectators anticipate an exciting match and the odds for winning are very narrow for either of the teams. Talk about the Clash of the Titans!
