Irish and South Africans swap inside info on opponents

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, March 15 (Reuters) South African coach Mickey Arthur said they had enlisted the help of the Irish in a swap of information to find out more about their first World Cup Group A opponents, the Netherlands.

''We've dug quite deeply and we have quite a lot of stuff on them,'' Arthur told a news conference in Basseterre today after rain thwarted the South Africans' practice plans.

World number one ranked team South Africa play their first group match of the seven-week long tournament in the Caribbean against the Netherlands tomorrow.

''We managed to do a trade-off with Ireland. They gave us all their information on the Netherlands and we gave them some on Pakistan.

''We have quite a bit of video footage of their major player, and we've analysed them in depth.'' Arthur said the South Africans had taken note of the Dutch style of play and of some of their players.

''Our batsmen are going to have to get their game plans in order because their wicketkeeper stands up to the stumps for most of their bowlers,'' Arthur said. ''They bowl a lot of cutters and wicket-to-wicket stuff.

''They have two big units who open the batting (Darron Reekers and Baz Zuiderent) and they look to give it a bit of a whack.'' The drizzle is forecast to return tomorrow at Warner Park, which raises the prospect of a washout and shared points from a match the South Africans would have been banking on winning.

South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher said the team were not unhappy that the training session had been called off.

''The guys are raring to go now, they're probably a little bit sick of practising,'' Boucher told a news conference.

''Practice is finished, it's the World Cup now. We've had four years to practise for the World Cup, now it's getting the job done that's the most important thing.'' The Netherlands were scheduled to train at the match venue later today. Australia and Scotland complete the group.

REUTERS DH VC2310