South Africa cricket legend Shaun Pollock has claimed that 'most aggressive' New Zealand is the team to watch out for in the Cricket World Cup but has insisted that their weak middle-order might be a slight worry for them.
Pollock, a fast bowler who played 108 Tests and 303 ODIs for South Africa, said that the aggressive nature of New Zealand's play had put them as top dog in the tournament. He insisted that he actually said before this tournament started that he always felt the top four were Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India, adding that those should be the semifinal candidates.
But, Pollock believes that New Zealand are being the most aggressive, especially from a captaincy perspective, adding that the way Brendon McCullum has gone about his business, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Pollock said that the New Zealand bowlers had backed their captain up, insisting that they have been impressive, and added that he can understand why the New Zealand public are pretty cock-a-hoop about their performances.
New Zealand needed to look across the pools and see who they might face in the knockout phase. Pollock is hoping that New Zealand would face South Africa in the semifinal at Eden Park.
He said that if everything goes to plan it should be that way, insisting that the prospects of which are quite exciting.
The ideal situation, Pollock joked, would be for South Africa to beat New Zealand at home in the semifinal and play Australia in the final, claiming that New Zealand had weaknesses that AB de Villiers' men could exploit.
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The former paceman said that one is always going to be looking at batting depth, adding that the funny thing, in the way they have played, not many of the middle order have had to contribute, so that might be a slight worry for New Zealand.
Pollock claimed that both teams had game-changing players, adding that New Zealand has the likes of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, McCullum, and if they perform well, then the team wins, while insisting that South Africa has got people like Hashim Amla, De Villiers, Imran Tahir, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.