South Africa's baseballers, who have swept aside all African opposition, this week get the chance to book their tickets to the Sydney Olympics as they take on Oceania champions Guam in a crunch playoff series at the Randburg Sports Complex.
By virtue of their easy win at the All Africa Games in Johannesburg in September, South Africa qualified to play Guam, victorious in the recent Oceania Championships, in a best-of-five game shootout, the winner going on to the millennium Olympics.
The matches will take place on Thursday December 16 at 2pm, December 17 at 7pm, December 18 at 2pm, December 19 at 10am and, if needed, a final game will be played at 2pm the same day.
Guam had initially objected to the match being played in South Africa, citing fears for their safety in Johannesburg, and wanted the game switched to Australia.
But South Africa qualified for home playoffs, as in the playoffs for the 1994 Atlanta Olympics they played the Oceania winners Australia in Australia, losing all three games.
It will be South Africa's first match against Guam, but South African officials have been getting reports from Oceania on this week's oppositon and are optimistic of their chances.
The locals have certainly pulled out all the stops to ensure they are victorious this week, with head coach Raymond Tew being assisted by Cuban Lazaro Sole. The Cubans are acknowledged as one of the strongest baseballing countries in the world, having won the World Championships 22 times out of the last 35 played.
South Africa's powerful pitching complement have also been getting expert assistance from Jose Luis Aleman, the leading pitcher for the Cuban national team for 12 years.
American Jim Murphy has also been recruited from the American Major League to assist the team's batters.
The South Africans have spread their net far and wide to recruit eligible players for the team, with pitcher Timothy Harrell, a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers professional baseball team in the United States, set to be the first-choice pitcher.
Harrell, 24, whose fast ball has been measured at over 140 kilometres an hour, was born in South Africa of missionary American parents. He played junior baseball for Cape Town's Clyde Pinelands, where his veteran 42-year-old teammate this week, Alan Phillips, was the senior pitcher and he was also coached at Pinelands by SA head coach Tew.
The locals are certainly extremely strong in the pitching department, with seasoned Cape Town pitcher Bles Kemp, Darryn Smith and teenagers Breyton Bartles from Johannesburg and Capetonian Carl Michaels all on hand to assist Harrell.
Another player to look out for is first baseman Nic Dempsey, a giant two metre plus former lock forward for Jeppe Boys High, who has also spent two years with the Dodgers in the States.
South Africa will also be hoping for some fireworks from the big-hitting Ian Holness, who was the leading batter and most valuable player of the All Africa Games with six home runs in the tournament.
The Development Director of the South African Baseball Union, Edwin Bennett, said the South Africans would field a strong team and he fancied their chances of making it to the Sydney showpiece.
"Our chances this week are good. We believe we have the edge over them, especially as far as our pitching is concerned. We have been compiling reports on our opposition and we think we are definitely in with a very good chance," Bennett said.