South Africa slowly building up momentum: Du Plessis

Christchurch, Feb 10 (IANS) South African batsman Faf du Plessis Tuesday said they are slowly building up intensity ahead of their opening match of the World Cup against Zimbabwe in Hamilton Sunday.

South Africa play their last warm-up game against co-hosts New Zealand here Wednesday.

“With New Zealand tomorrow we will play with a little bit more intensity because it is getting closer to that first match but we will still gradually build it up,” Du Plessis was quoted as saying by sportz24.co.za.

The 30-year-old says the team is anxious to get its campaign underway after months of One-Day International (ODI) cricket and preparation.

“It’s taken so long. The build-up to the World Cup especially has almost been a year. We are very excited as a team, we are ready, we have played a lot of cricket and we just want to get going now,” Du Plessis admitted.

“The important thing is that we are doing really well at the moment. We are not looking too much into these warm-up games. All our focus is geared up towards that first game against Zimbabwe.”

The top-order batsman hoped they would be tested by New Zealand so that they can learn from their mistakes and take the positives through to their opening game.

“Hopefully we get an opportunity to get some match intensity going. Whether it’s bowling at the death, or we get another situation where we are chasing," he said.

"It’s difficult to get match intensity, but if we can get a match situation where we can learn something, that will be good. Hopefully New Zealand can put us in a position where we can learn something from the game and take it into our first opener.”

South Africa have never won the World Cup.