We will not be tentative today

There's a buzz around the island of St Kitts. At our practise session yesterday, we noticed that some extra cameras had suddenly materialised, and the local cricket fans seem to be talking of nothing other than South Africa vs. Australia. There are a fair number of South African fans here as well, which makes it all very exciting for us. Honestly speaking, I can't wait to get out there and face the first ball.

The buzz is largely owing to the fact that we have deposed Australia as world ODI champions, of course, but it also has something to do with the fact that this match will probably be a dress rehearsal for another encounter later in the tournament. There's also the similarity between the teams in terms of aggression and hunger to win. Both teams tend to be very upfront about things - well okay, Australia are probably a little more upfront at times - but the bottom line is that we have great respect for each other.

Easy victories

Therefore, there's not much to choose between the two teams. I notice that of late, the Australians have been slightly quieter than usual, and the usual chatter has been missing. I'm sure they would like their cricket to do the talking, though. Before we played each other at the Wanderers in March 2006, the Aussies would probably have thought they had an edge over us. Well, they don't any more, and we are certainly looking forward to the contest.

We have had two good games so far, though both have been against the minnows, and we scored predictably easy victories, but that was probably because we treated these teams as we would any other. The danger about minnows, as India and Pakistan have realised, is that they play without pressure, which makes them fearless. Bangladesh, for instance, have improved a hell of a lot under Dav Whatmore, and are a bunch of talented youngsters who fed on the tentativeness that India displayed against them. Against teams such as Bangladesh and Ireland, a sniff at victory is often all they need. So they served the rest of us with a wake up call as well.

We certainly will not be tentative today, particularly since the Australian bowling attack is relatively inexperienced.

The grounds here are not too big, and the first three or four overs from someone like Brad Hodge will be vital. If we can go after him in that time and make sure he loses his rhythm, the pressure on the other bowlers will be immense. Add to that the doubts about Andrew Symonds taking the field, and we are sure we can administer our own dose of mental disintegration. Symonds offers his team several options, and his absence is sure to have an impact. And we really don't know whether his rehab has come on as well as the Australians say it has.

I have been asked several times whether the lack of a world class slow bowler will affect us in this World Cup, and I can say that we will pick our best team regardless of the conditions.