Ireland's South African-born coach Adrian Birrell put aside national allegiance to admit he thinks Graeme Smith's Proteas have the heads and the hearts to win a first World Cup crown.
Birrell, speaking after watching South Africa cruise past his Irish team by seven wickets in the Super Eights on Tuesday, saw enough to convince him that his compatriots can land the title.
"I may be biased because they are my team, but they are a quality side and have played a great brand of one-day cricket," said Birrell, who played for and coached Eastern Province before taking over as Ireland coach in 2003.
"It will all depend on their form in the coming games. If South Africa peak at the right time and play hard, quality matches they can go all the way. They have got every base covered and they do every discipline very well," he said.
South Africa's second Super Eights win elevated them to fourth place in the Super Eights table.
While they ponder their chances of becoming champions, Ireland's main concern was to take a break.
"The guys looked jaded against England but were sharp in the South Africa game," Birrell said.
"We deserve some rest now. We want to recharge the batteries and six days' rest will do us some good," he said.
Ireland made a fighting 158-8 in Tuesday's game which was interrupted by rain and reduced to 35-overs-a-side.
They dismissed South Africa opener AB de Villiers quickly before Jacques Kallis (66 not out), aided by an unbeaten 47 by Ashwell Prince and Graeme Smith's 41, rescued the situation.
Ireland skipper Trent Johnston believes his team has not been disgraced in the Super Eights, where they have also been beaten by England.
"We had chances in both games. We had our chances against Kallis and you have to take them against a batsman like him," said Johnston, who dropped one the two catches that Kallis allowed.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but