Jacques Kallis and Shane Warne engage in pre-Test mind games
The pre-Test banter between Australian and South Africa is starting to get a bit monotonous as a regular pattern emerges. Act 1: Shane Warne taunts the South Africans. Yesterday, he let loose with his mind games:
"We've obviously got a psychological advantage being a spinner against those guys, with the record that I've got against South Africa and the prospect of even playing two with Stuart MacGill. If we go into those sort of situations and they're telling groundsmen to water [the pitch], then we've got a psychological advantage straight away before a ball is bowled. If they want to juice it up and negate me, I'll take my 0 for 40 and we win in three days. That means a series win and a couple of days of golf. I'll take it every time."Act 2: The South Africans deny Warnie is getting to them. They're handing the baton around this series as this time, it was Jaques Kallis who had a laugh at Shane Warne's latest comments:
"He's there for entertainment. He always comes up with statements, and the guys don't take too much notice of what he says. He creates a laugh or two in the change-room, but we don't worry about what he says."Fair enough, it is hard to take Warne seriously. At least it isn't Graeme Smith playing mind games with Warne. Smith and Warne - not the two brightest bulbs in the box.
The South Africans go to great pains to insist they're hardly worried about Warne at all. However, Graeme Smith took him seriously enough that he scuttled any chance of a South African victory by batting first in the 1st Test, just to ensure he didn't have to face Warne in the 4th innings. So it's not all chuckles and thigh slapping in the South African dressing room. Let's just hope we see an Act 3 consisting of a tight, competitive match culminating in an Australian victory late in the 5th day (that's not too much to ask, is it?)
| Posted by JC on Fri 24 Mar |  1 comments |
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