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Mickey Arthur has no doubt Pakistan will be “up for the fight” when it faces his native South Africa in the Champions Trophy after a humiliating defeat by India.
Yet, worryingly for Pakistan coach Arthur, there is the potential for an even more lopsided match when it returns to Edgbaston on Wednesday — and that’s not simply because South Africa is on top of the ICC One-Day International rankings while Pakistan is eighth.
Pakistan must somehow raise its game to beat a South Africa side which defeated Sri Lanka by 96 runs in its opening fixture if it is to have any chance of reaching the semifinals. The cliche of Pakistan’s ‘unpredictability’ may be wearing thin, at least in ODI cricket.
South Africa, however, has a nasty habit of not playing to its potential in ICC tournaments and de Villiers promised it was not about to “get ahead of ourselves”.
