Smith injures knee ahead of semi-final clash

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Smith injures knee ahead of semi-final clash
South Africa received an injury scare ahead of their big semi-final against Australia, with their captain Graeme Smith suffering a minor knee injury ahead of the St Lucia clash on Wednesday.
Smith hurt his knee while fielding in the match against England that enabled South Africa to qualify for the semi-final. According to a team spokesman, Smith did not play a full part in Saturday's training session.
"He has a niggle and thus didn't train as intensively," the team spokesperson told Reuters, adding that Smith was advised by team physio Shane Jabbar to manage the problem through rest.
The South African captain has scored 441 runs in the tournament so far at a strike rate of over a hundred. His five fifties include a 91 off only 65 deliveries against Scotland. Smith has also struck the second highest number of fours in this World Cup to date, second only to Australia's Matthew Hayden.
South Africa, ousted by Australia in the 1999 World Cup semi-final, are bidding to make it to their first-ever final of a World Cup. The only other time South Africa entered the last four was in 1992 when they went down to England, thanks largely to the rain rule prevalent at the time. In 1996 they lost to West Indies in the quarter-final while their 2003 home campaign ended disappointingly, with a first-round exit.
Opening batsman senses fear ahead of semi-final
We intimidate South Africa - Hayden
Matthew Hayden has taken aim at South Africa before Wednesday's semi-final by saying they are still intimidated by Australia. Hayden noticed the familiar feeling during the 83-run win over Graeme Smith's side during the group phase and put it down to Australia's sustained success against them.
While Ricky Ponting's squad lost the last head-to-head one-day competition, Australia have not been beaten in a Test series since South Africa's international return in 1992. Ponting has also spoken over the past week of [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] in major matches.
"Last time we played better than them and you could tell by the looks on their faces they were intimidated by us," Hayden said in the Sunday Mail. The fielders did have a reasonable reason to be unnerved that day as Hayden belted the World Cup's fastest century during his [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] as Australia reached 6 for 377.
"I definitely sensed that," he said. "It is an edge which came from many years of beating them. It was just body language. You could feel that they could feel it." South Africa finished fourth after the Super Eights while Hayden made sure Australia remained unbeaten with his third hundred of the competition against New Zealand on Friday.
Hayden has joined Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly with the most centuries in the same World Cup and he now has 580 runs at 82.85. He said there was no mystery to his success. "There's no replacing hard work," he told AFP.
"We've worked very hard throughout the summer on our one-day game and all elements of our game. It's no surprise that we are here at a World Cup at the height of our games. We are looking forward now to the next two games. All of what we've been able to achieve means nothing if we don't go all the way."

[sheem]

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