South African captain AB de Villiers said he was “expecting the unexpected” from the mild-mannered New Zealand, but his counterpart Brendon McCullum has ensured that sledging and bringing up words like ‘chokers’ is something the Kiwis are never going to do.
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When asked in his pre-match conference if he expected the New Zealand players to “chatter” during their 2015 World Cup semi-final today, de Villiers said: “We are expecting the unexpected. Whatever gets thrown at us, I believe we have the right personnel to deal with that.
“New Zealand are normally a gentleman-like team to play against, but sometimes they do come out and go for what they want, and we’re expecting that. I don’t think there will be any surprises. It’s just up to us to deal with whatever comes our way.”
Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers have 40 ODI hundreds between them. The likely New Zealand XI has 34. #NZvsSA #CWC15
— Sonu 😉 (@_hafees) March 23, 2015
And even though the significance of the match is not lost on McCullum – if either of the two teams win, they will reach a World Cup final for the first time – he said New Zealand will never get drawn into a war of words on the field.
“That’s not how we want to play the game. I think other teams will do that sort of thing, but for us we are not good enough to have that as our focus,” said the skipper, who is receiving rave reviews for transforming the fortunes of his team and leading them rare aggression.
“We need to make sure that we are respectful of the game and go about our work. The way we’ve been playing is obviously a pretty exciting brand of cricket, as well. Just because it’s a pressure game, you shouldn’t change that.
“It’s the greatest chance for success; we know that. For us to compete against big teams on a regular basis and for us to win World Cups in crunch games, we need to remain true to that. I believe that’s our most authentic style of cricket, it’s one that serves us well, and I wouldn’t expect that would change tomorrow.”
McCullum said several players in the Proteas team were good friends of his, and that won’t change whoever wins or loses today.
“Yes, I’ve got a few mates on the South African team. I think you play so much cricket around the world against teams and against guys, you form relationships, and obviously IPL helps with that as well,” said the 33-year-old.
That letter from Brendon McCullum is awesome! pic.twitter.com/XmZ83rKHbS
— Chinmay Bhogle (@chinmaybhogle) March 23, 2015
“When you are out on the field representing your country, you’ve got a duty to ensure that you go out and you try to perform at your absolute best. Tomorrow is no different to that.
“Either way, we will make sure that the teams catch up after the game, and whether you win or you lose, we’ll catch up, and whoever loses will wish the team all the best for the final, and whoever wins, I’m sure will be gracious about that.”
