Smith and Co. arrive with World Cup dream

Chennai, Feb 9 (PTI) Strong World Cup contenders SouthAfrica, led by burly Graeme Smith, arrived here this morningand will soon start the preparations for the mega event, whichthey have never won.

Presence of in-form Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and JPDuminy in the batting line up and a fierce pace attack,featuring world number one bowler Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel andLonwabo Tsotsobe makes them a formidable side.

The South Africans are high on confidence after beatingIndia 3-2 in the recent ODI series.

They have been drawn in Group-B along with India,England, West Indies, Bangladesh and minnows Ireland andNetherlands.

They will play a warm up match against Zimbabwe here onFebruary 12. Their opening match is against the West Indies atFeroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi on February 24.

Squad: Graeme Smith (C), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, ABde Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Morne van Wyk (wk),Colin Ingram, Johan Botha, Imran Tahir, Robin Peterson, MorneMorkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.