Australia is chasing an unprecedented third straight title at the Cricket World Cup, and making it look easy.
Ricky Ponting's team has outplayed its big rivals on the way to the semifinals and now faces a team it beat by 83 runs in the group phase a month ago.
Australia's Ricky Ponting swings across the wicket back on April 16.
(Aman Sharma/Associated Press)
Australia scored 377 for six in that match against South Africa in St. Kitts and has not let up in taking its streak of World Cup victories to 21 since winning the championship final in 1999.
South Africa is trying to avoid thinking about that.
South Africa also wants to banish memories of a game it should have won eight years ago, before that winning run started.
That game ended tied and Australia advanced to the final on the basis of having beaten South Africa in the Super 6s phase.
The winning streak then started, with an eight-wicket victory over Pakistan in the 1999 final.
Four of the South Africans who played in 1999 will be on the field when the two sides meet again in the semifinal at St. Lucia on Wednesday.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith said his team would prefer to not dwell on that 1999 semi.
"We had a conference the other day to gear up the guys, with the guys who were part of that game," he said Monday after practice at Gros Islet, St. Lucia.
"Even they say it wasn't such a big issue as people are making it up to be."
Smith knows that he, Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis have to get lots of runs to stand any real chance against the powerful Australian lineup, which has scored well over 300 runs five times in this year's World Cup, with opener Matthew Hayden scoring three centuries.
Too close to call
Sri Lanka faces New Zealand in the other semifinal, in Jamaica on Tuesday, and it's almost too close to call.
Stephen Fleming's New Zealand showed from the start it would pose a major challenge to Australia, having beaten its neighbour 3-0 in a one-day series near the end of February.
It appears to have the ideal blend of talented top order batsmen, including Fleming and Scott Styris, solid and spectacular middle-order hitters such as Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum, a top-quality spinner in Daniel Vettori and fast bowling ace Shane Bond.
Sri Lanka's batting strength relies on veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya and captain Mahela Jayawardene.
If those two fail, Sri Lanka will struggle and will have to rely on its impressive bowlers.
Also Monday, West Indies' Bennett King became the fourth World Cup coach to quit.
After the departures of India's Greg Chappell, England's Duncan Fletcher and Bangladesh's Dav Whatmore, the West Indies Cricket Board confirmed King's resignation.
