Hansie plays it cool over victory

Sharjah - It was an immaculate victory for South Africa against India in the first game of the Coca-Cola Cup on Wednesday night but the way Hansie Cronje and Graham Ford po-faced it through the press conference suggested that the ten wicket win was India's - not theirs.

Their obvious need for the conference to be quickly over aside - wives and girlfriends are in town after all - Cronje did make the point that it was good for the bowlers to get some wickets under their belt, particularly as he had on many occasions bemoaned his lack of "firepower" in India.

"It was important, particularly from a bowling point of view, for our bowlers to get a bit of confidence," said Cronje, "and I think that was certainly the case here."

Cronje went on to compliment both Steve Elworthy, the man of the match, and Makhaya Ntini, for their performances, this as his opposite number, Saurav Ganguly, put the loss down to simply having had a bad day. "We're just trying to put this behind us," said an Indian captain slightly less forthcoming than usual.

South Africa might well have won the game beforehand. They chose absolutely the correct side as both Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis looked to have gained from the fact that they were rested for the fifth one-day international against India in Nagpur on Sunday and India decided not to play Venkatesh Prasad.

"I think that the wicket was a little skiddier than we thought ," said Cronje, "and that might have undone them."

When asked if the victory was a singular instance of a plan coming neatly together, coach Graham Ford replied: "I obviously benefited from a captain that had been here before and he really led the discussion.... We felt that we needed the extra pace and that's how it turned out." Neither Cronje nor Ford were asked about Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten's magnificent unbroken opening partnership of 168, so eager were they to rush off.

For the record it was a partnership of some stature - not to mention casual brilliance - especially since the 165 needed to win might have proved to be one of those excruciating targets.

Cricket history is full of them, with chasing teams not knowing whether to approach the target in an overly cautious way or to blaze their way there.

As it was, the South Africans appeared to take their cue from Zimbabwe's over-cautious approach against the West Indies in Port-of-Spain a couple of days ago as they rushed towards victory with a concentration and confidence that left the Indians shellshocked.