Tuesday, 17th April 2007 at 10:29 am

KP’s big day out

It’s a big day out for South African sport, what with Shosholoza continuing their assault on America’s Cup established order (provided the wind picks up in Valencia), and the Baby Boks taking on Australia in the under-19 World Championship. Most of the country’s focus, however, will be firmly on the Caribbean, and South Africa’s make-or-break clash with England for a place in the World Cup semifinals.

It’s been a tough few days for South Africa, the loss to New Zealand followed by allegtions from South African fans in the Caribbean that the team was still going strong at the bar at 4am the morning after the loss to the Kiwis (if only such endurance was matched at the crease). That incident will fall off the radar if South Africa win on Tuesday; standing in the way of that victory, Graeme Smith’s close personal friend, Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen was extremely open in his autobiography about his thoughts on Smith, and the sentiment has been reciprocated on a number of occasions, making this a fierce individual battle, as well as a clash of two unpredictable teams. England have shown flashes of brilliance, while South Africa have somehow turned into Pakistan, performances veering wildly from sublime to woeful.

A quicker wicket should be more conducive to the seam-heavy South African team (and hopefully minimise the chance of the captain giving himself a few overs), but Pietersen has enjoyed himself on all sorts of tracks, and no team will provide greater motivation to pull off something spectacular. Throw in an improving Ian Bell, the match-winning abilities of Andrew Flintoff (who’ll be able to sympathise with South Africa’s big night out), and Paul Collingwood, and you have a fair England team - and one rather nervous South African population.