GRENADA: CRICKET - South Africa's Jacques Kallis and New Zealand's Stephen Fleming and Craig Mcmillan speak after New Zealand win at Cricket World Cup

South African vice-captain Jacques Kallis blamed the unpredictable Caribbean weather for his team's defeat by New Zealand in a World Cup Super Eights match on Saturday. New Zealand restricted South Africa to 193 for seven and replied with 196 with five wickets and 10 balls to spare. Kallis felt the result was almost a forgone conclusion when New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming won the toss and opted to field after early showers and overcast skies made the batting conditions challenging in the morning. "It's frustrating when the conditions play such a big role in the game, the toss was vital," Kallis told a news conference. "In the first 20 overs it was a green test wicket and the guys did well to stick in there as well as we did and get a total we could bowl at." The cloud cover dissipated and circumstances were better for batting during New Zealand's innings. However, South Africa did not help their cause by dropping four catches. "Who knows, if we had hung on to one or two chances maybe we could have been in a different position," Kallis said. "Credit needs to be given to the bowlers for putting in a performance like that on what was a different wicket in the afternoon." Kallis brushed off suggestions that the team was inconsistent even though South Africa had scored their highest World Cup tally -- 356 for four against West Indies -- at the same venue just four days ago. "Not at all, I think it's inconsistency in the wicket," he said in reply to a question. "There's no way we would have got 350 on that wicket this morning. "If we had managed to sneak in another 10 or 15 runs it might have made it more difficult for New Zealand and anyway it did go down to the last few overs." Saturday's result means South Africa must beat England in their final Super Eights match in Barbados on Tuesday to reach the semis. "It (the England match) was always a must-win game for us, it just becomes more must-win now," Kallis said. The seven-week World Cup culminates with the final in Barbados on April

ITN Source | April 16, 2007

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