Smith: We can win ICC World T20
South Africa captain Graeme Smith believes his side are on course for the ICC World Twenty20 glory after they beat West Indies.
Teenage pace ace Wayne Parnell took four for 13 as South Africa ran out winners by 20 runs to once again justify their tag as tournament favourites.South Africa inch closer to semis
The Proteas made 183 for seven from their 20 overs, including 55 from Herschelle Gibbs, and after Parnell had removed openers Chris Gayle and Andre Fletcher they were relatively untroubled in restricting West Indies to 163 for nine at The Oval on Saturday.
Lendl Simmons offered brief hope of a Windies fightback, but their chance disappeared when he fell for 77 as South Africa followed up their win over England on Thursday with another impressive performance.
"It's been a successful week but a tough one," said Smith.
"We get an extra day now before we play India and I'm comfortable with where we are, you can't argue with the performances or the results we have turned out in this competition so far.
"As a team we try to challenge ourselves. There are always things to improve on but if we play our best and with our intensity, if we perform to our potential, then we will be difficult to beat.
"I really believe we can win it, but there is a long way to go, a lot of cricket to be played and a lot of good teams in this competition."
Gayle unhappy
West Indies skipper Gayle was unhappy his side had been forced to take to the field just 17 hours after beating India at Lord's on Friday night, but refused to blame the quick turnaround for the defeat.
The Windies next take on England on Monday.
"Twenty20 takes a lot out of you mentally. But we knew the itinerary and we came here to play a good game of cricket so I'm disappointed we lost," said Gayle.
"I have to commend the guys for the effort they put in after what happened yesterday. We wanted to better that performance but it didn't happen.
"It would have been nice to get another five o'clock game to give us a bit more of a break - it didn't give us much time to plan for South Africa but we tried to do our best.
"I think the schedulers should learn from this. England have two back-to-back games but they are both five o'clock games."
Gayle, who revealed he may eventually need surgery on an ankle injury, fell to Parnell for just five.
"The batting at the top of the order let us down," he added. "Losing early wickets puts pressure on the other batters but Lendl batted really well."
With crucial players like Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, Daniel Vettori and Kevin Pietersen nursing injuries, is the slam-bang version of cricket starting to take its toll on the players? You know where to write n with your thoughts. Write in to us at: fanspeak@espnstar.co.in
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