Cricket: Cronje and team confident, but not overly

CHRISTCHURCH - The South African cricket team arrived confident yesterday about their seven-week tour of New Zealand, but without their head coach, Bob Woolmer.

Woolmer has had to stay in South Africa because his father is very ill in Cape Town. He will rejoin the team as soon as possible.

In his absence the team will be coached by Woolmer's assistant, Graham Ford, who coaches Natal in the South African domestic competitions.

Captain Hansie Cronje admitted his squad's confidence was high after their crushing 5-0 test series win over the West Indies, followed by a 6-1 one-day series victory.

"There is a good feeling, but you've only got to go back four months to see how low we were after the England tour," Cronje said, referring to the lost series in the middle of last year.

"We realise the cycles in professional sport are very short these days and if we don't keep up our disciplines, and become complacent, we could return to South Africa just like the West Indians did."

Cronje said it was important to remember the West Indies were a dispirited, divided team playing below their very best.

"So it's important for us to forget about that very quickly and to get strong before Sunday again."

Cronje said his knowledge of the New Zealand team was limited. He has seen little of the recent series against India, and much of his thinking was dictated by what he saw during last season's tri-series one-day programme in Australia.

In that series, New Zealand won only one of four matches against the South Africans, but with some luck could have won three of them.

"I think since Steve Rixon took over as coach they've become a more disciplined and I think generally a stronger side," he said.

"In the world series [tri-series] they were certainly a team to be reckoned with. They played good cricket and were only a few balls away from victory in a lot of those games."

The tour starts with a one-dayer against the New Zealand Academy in Alexandra today, with the first of the six one-dayers against New Zealand in Dunedin on Sunday. - NZPA

Pictured: South African captain Hansie Cronje and vice-captain Shaun Pollock. PICTURE / FOTOPRESS