Complacency not a problem - Hansie

Hansie Cronje believes that complacency won't be a problem for South Africa when they face India in the first match of the Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah on Wednesday afternoon.

"If we'd won the one-day series back in India then we'd have to be worried a little about complacency," he said after practice on Tuesday, "but motivating ourselves for the game isn't going to be a problem".

South Africa have a good record in Sharjah, having won five games here in April 1996. On that occasion they beat the same opponents that they will be facing in this tournament - India and Pakistan - beating India in the final.

The major difference between then and now is the fact that the 1996 tournament was played during the day and South Africa haven't experienced playing under lights in Sharjah before. "We know that the wickets here in Sharjah are quicker than those in India," said Cronje, "so the quicks will feature and the ball will swing".

Shaun Pollock, far and away South Africa's premier bowler on tour, wasn't overly impressed by what he saw of the wicket on Tuesday, a strip that is as likely to have grass on it as grass is likely to sprout from Herschelle Gibbs' head. "You've just got to make sure that the ball swings here," admitted Pollock. "There's not going to be any seam movement here so back of a length isn't going to help."

Pollock admitted to feeling a little zippier on Tuesday, this after missing the fifth one-dayer in Nagpur, and what with his captain drawing attention to the fact that there might be some more bounce in the wicket than there was in India, there will certainly be a temptation to look at Nantie Hayward and Makhaya Ntini.

"I think we learnt a lot in India," admitted Cronje. "It was just a case of putting it in to practice because we didn't have the firepower that we wanted."

With Charl Willoughby and Henry Williams probably passing each other somewhere at roughly 30 000 feet, Cronje will be able to call on not only Hayward - who had a good session in the nets on Tuesday, and looks to be almost back to full fitness - but Ntini, and, at a later stage, Willoughby as well.

The Boland seamer only arrived in Sharjah early on Wednesday morning so he won't be playing against India, but Hayward might be seriously considered, as too might Ntini. This might mean that someone like Derek Crookes is forced to step down, with Pieter Strydom and Nicky Boje retaining their places as spinners, should spin come into it, as it probably will.

It all amounts to the usual litany of ifs and buts, the possible exception to the scenario being that the players wives and girlfriends arrived in Sharjah on Monday, giving the players a fillip after nearly five weeks in India.