South Africa player profiles

Published: 2:54PM Sunday March 04, 2007 Source: Reuters

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  Graeme Smith (capt)



Age: 25
Left-hand opening bat, occasional off-spin bowler
Average: 38.36
Strike rate 80.23

Smith is now well established as South Africa's captain after taking over a month after the 2003 World Cup as a 22-year-old. Bats aggressively at the top of the order and becoming increasingly useful with his off-spin. His captaincy is based more on aggression and keeping the opposition under pressure than any fancy tactics.


Loots Bosman
Age: 29
Right-hand bat
Average: 25.25
Strike rate: 91.40.

Probably the most controversial selection in the squad, Bosman has ostensibly been chosen for his ability to score quickly at the start of the innings. He is unproven at international level, however, and poor footwork has been exposed by high-quality bowlers.


Mark Boucher
Age: 30
Wicketkeeper, right hand bat
Average: 27.96
Strike rate: 82.78

Boucher has been a key figure in many of South Africa's most special moments in the past 10 years. A much-improved wicketkeeper, Boucher brings a steely determination to the lower-order batting and is a potential matchwinner.



  AB de Villiers



Age: 23
Right-hand bat
Average: 34.00
Strike rate: 81.23

An outstanding teenage prospect in a range of sports, De Villiers brings the same enthusiasm, verve and athletic ability to the South African team as Jonty Rhodes did in previous World Cups. He has been moved up and down the batting order, but seems set to open the batting with Smith in the West Indies after the shot-selection problems he had earlier in his ODI career.


 
  Herschelle Gibbs



Age: 33
Right-hand bat
Average: 35.50
Strike rate: 81.93

Blessed with a great eye, fantastic hands and beautiful timing, Gibbs is an experienced campaigner on the international stage, appearing in his third World Cup. A brilliant 175 guided South Africa to a world record winning score of 438 for nine to clinch a series victory over Australia in Johannesburg last year but he has battled to be a consistent match-winner. Still one of the best fielders around.

Andrew Hall
Age: 31
Right-arm fast-medium bowler, right-hand batsman
Average: 22.78
Strike rate: 74.46
Economy rate: 4.52

Hall is a man for a crisis, having survived an armed robbery in 1998 in which he was shot in the hand. Not always assured of his place in the starting XI, Hall is nevertheless a tidy performer in the closing overs with his nippy seam bowling and a capable batsman who once scored 163 opening the batting in a test match.



 Jacques Kallis



Age: 31
Right-hand bat, right-arm fast-medium bowler
Average: 44.37
Strike rate: 70.70
Economy rate: 4.81

An all-rounder of immense ability, Kallis is the rock around which the South African batting revolves. Exceptionally solid on defence, Kallis also has a full range of scoring strokes, but is occasionally reluctant to use them. An important wicket-taker with his swing bowling and a fielder with a wonderfully safe pair of hands, Kallis is playing in his fourth World Cup.


 
  Justin Kemp



Age: 29
Right-hand bat, right-arm medium-pace bowler
Average: 32.02
Strike rate: 86.18
Economy rate: 4.61

A tall, strongly-built man, Kemp has the ability to rip bowling attacks apart with his powerful, orthodox hitting. Kemp also picks up useful wickets with his medium-pace bowling and is a fine catcher.


Charl Langeveldt
Age: 32
Right-arm fast-medium bowler
Economy rate: 4.88

Langeveldt is likely to be South Africa's first-choice death bowler at the World Cup, having won a match in Bridgetown in 2005 with a hat-trick in the final over. South Africa's premier swing bowler, both conventional and reverse, Langeveldt is a late bloomer, after an earlier career as a prison warder.


Andre Nel
Age: 29
Right-arm fast-medium bowler
Economy rate: 4.69

Nel is an important member of the South African attack for his aggression and the wicket-taking ability he brings. One of the game's great characters, Nel has often been hauled before match referees for antics that sometimes go over the top.



  Makhaya Ntini



Age: 29
Right-arm fast bowler
Economy rate: 4.40

The most famous product of South Africa's development programme in previously disadvantaged areas, Ntini has netted 308 test and 231 one-day wickets, most of them in the last five years as he has worked exceptionally hard at his skills. Blessed with incredible stamina, Ntini is the team's leading strike bowler and makes it hard for batsmen to score by angling the ball into them from back of a length. Then he snares his victim by nipping it away off the seam.

Robin Peterson
Age: 27
Slow left-arm orthodox bowler
Economy rate: 4.73

Peterson has been a scratchy performer at international level, but has shone domestically as a probing, accurate spinner. Brilliant as a fielder in the inner ring as well.



  Shaun Pollock



Age: 33
Right-arm fast-medium bowler, right-hand bat
Average: 24.94
Strike rate: 85.51
Economy rate: 3.71

South Africa's leading wickettaker, Pollock has taken 416 in tests and 373 in one-day matches. His extraordinary frugality with the new ball is of immeasurable importance to South Africa. Will be their key player in his fourth World Cup appearance, not just as the world's number one one-day bowler and an awesome timer of the ball when batting, but also for the knowledge and experience he brings to the team.



  Ashwell Prince



Age: 29
Left-hand bat
Average: 37.95
Strike rate: 66.69

A late developer, Prince brings a mature, solid approach to the middle overs and was South Africa's leading batsman in tests in the past year. Prince also fields with tremendous vitality, forming a lethal combination with de Villiers.



 Roger Telemachus



Age: 33
Right-arm fast-medium bowler
Economy rate: 4.89

A pace bowler with considerable heart, Telemachus was another controversial selection but his nippy seam bowling is useful in the middle overs as it is generally straight, and he has also proven his worth in the frenetic final overs. A big hitter down the order.

Mickey Arthur
Age: 38
Coach

A hugely popular if essentially journeyman player, Arthur has brought in expert specialist help, including Jonty Rhodes and Jimmy Cook. Has got on well with Smith and the rest of the team since taking over in 2005.

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