AB crew need BMT

As the Proteas squad warmed up for their training session on the outfield at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday, a magpie-lark near the middle of the ground alighted with attacking intent.

It veered at a flying insect that knew how to stay out of trouble. As the bird zigged with its beak wide open, the bug zagged. When the bird zagged, the bug zigged. At the end of the merry dance, the gogga buzzed off in rude health.

The magpie-lark's plumage is a swirl of black and white, not green and gold. The insect was nondescript - not at all a gleaming prize. But watching the bird hunt the bug could not fail to inspire thoughts of South Africa's long quest for Word Cup glory.

AB de Villiers's team will take a great leap forward in that cause if they beat India here on Sunday.

If they lose, the leap will be backward.

The match will be the second for both teams; they both won their first matches. But victory in a contest of this magnitude will mean more than it should. So will defeat.

"Results are always important," Russell Domingo admitted yesterday. "You'd rather come off a big win in front of a big crowd against a quality side like India than a loss.

"Although it's still early in the tournament, a lot of positives can be taken out of a positive result or a good performance against a side like India in front of a sold-out crowd."

That means as many as 100024 people will be in cricket's concrete colossus on Sunday. Almost all of them will support India with a level of passion few South Africans would believe is possible to raise about a mere game of cricket.

They will have come to see an Indian side that could not fight its way out of a soggy roti six weeks ago when they started a tour of Australia in which they failed to win any of their four Tests and four one-day internationals.

Then they took a break, and came back to beat Pakistan in their World Cup opener in Adelaide on Sunday. How had the Indians managed to reverse their fortunes?

"I did hear one of them say that the eight days they had off was very important for them to freshen up mentally," Domingo said. "That could have been part of it, but we know they have some of the best players in the world. They've had a tough tour of Australia, but it's not the tour of Australia that is probably at the top of their list - the World Cup is their priority."

SA's first priority will be to put their best XI on the field on Sunday, and the good news for them is that Dale Steyn trained yesterday after missing Wednesday's session with what was either flu or sinusitis, depending on which team source you believe.

Steyn will be vital to the Proteas' chances of success, and he might have a point to prove. He has gone for more than a run-a-ball in his last 10 ODIs but has taken as many as three wickets in only two of them.

Getting batsmen out will be the only effective antidote against an Indian batting lineup that does not know how to take a backward step.