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South Africa cricket team’s coach Mickey Arthur says he will field his strongest available side in their World Cup warm-up game against Ireland on Monday (tomorrow).

He feels that’s the only way his side can effectively warm-up is if they put their best side out against Irish. “We’d like to get into the gear as quickly as possible and build up some momentum in warm-up matches,” Arthur explained.

South Africa go into the World Cup as second favourites in spite of being world’s number one side and Arthur feels they need to keep up their good form in the games leading up to tournament.

“When we play our first match of the tournament, we must be ready instead of still looking for best combinations. Players are now in a winning culture and it is a habit we would like to maintain,” he expressed.

The only player likely to miss out against Ireland is Makhaya Ntini who is still in South Africa due to some family reasons. Either Andre Nel or Charl Langeveldt will replace Ntini in first warm-up.

South Africans face Pakistan in their second warm-up game next Friday before opening up their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on March 16.
Source:The News