Kirsten keeps own counsel

Kirsten keeps own counsel

By Martin Gough
BBc Sport Online in Cape Town

Kirsten began the tournament in good form

Kenya have taken an unprecedented approach to intelligence-gathering ahead of their match against South Africa on Wednesday, with assistant coach Andy Kirsten taking the lead.

"He texted me the other day to ask if I knew a way to get me out.

"I said if you don't know my game by now you're never going to," reveals South Africa opener Gary Kirsten, who happens to be the ingenious coach's brother.

It is certainly unlikely that any of Kenya's military medium-pacers will be able to create the kind of extra bounce that saw West Indies' Merv Dillon dismiss the opener on Sunday.

That dismissal, with Kirsten on 69 in the 32nd over at Newlands, was key to South Africa's surprise three-run opening defeat, seeing a solid start squandered.

But for much of this season, South Africa's leading one-day run-scorer believed that he would not get the chance to appear in his third World Cup after a poor run of form last year.

This team has been in all sorts of situations before so they know what to expect

Gary Kirsten

However, the 35-year-old, who holds the record for the highest score in a World Cup - 188 against United Arab Emirates in 1996 - made the most of his few chances.

A solid Test season, which saw him move from opening the batting to coming in third in the order, and a century against Pakistan on his recall to the one-day side convinced the selectors.

"I was thrown a lifeline," Kirsten admits. "I actually didn't think I'd play in this World Cup.

"But they¿ve obviously thought that I can offer something from an experience point of view. I've done the business before so let's hope the timing will be good."

South Africa v West Indies match report

Kirsten's inclusion was not without controversy, however, with his provincial team-mate Graeme Smith passed over despite boasting a career average of over 40 in a career that began just a year ago.

South Africa were committed to picking five 'players of colour' in their 15-man squad, and with Herschelle Gibbs the only leading batsmen in that category the selectors were hamstrung.

However Kirsten, like his team-mates is diplomatic in dealing with an issue that has been prevented from splitting the team despite much controversy over the last year.

"Maybe we don't have so much flexibility because they've gone for an extra all-rounder, who they feel can bat up front," he concedes.

"Selection is always a tricky issue in this country so you have to try and work it around but the fringe guys are reasonably settled in that they know their place in this team."

Kenya have never beaten South Africa in one-day cricket

Prior to the tournament, pace bowler Allan Donald expressed his belief that this team is not as strong as the one that fell at the semi-final stage in 1999.

But, for Kirsten, the advantage this squad holds is that it has had four more years to become battle-hardened.

"There's not so much difference in terms of what we can do in the tournament but this team has more experience," he says.

"In the last campaigns we only had a few guys who had played over 100 one-day internationals.

"Now we¿ve got a good group of senior players who are in the 130s and 140s. This team has been in all sorts of situations before so they know what to expect."

Kirsten is re-finding his own form but he describes team-mates Gibbs and Jacques Kallis as being in the "form of their lives" after dominating Asian attacks this season.

His brother will be hoping that, for Kenya's sake, the three big guns do not fire together in Potchefstroom.