Wayne Parnell Sets His Eyes On Champions Trophy
Jan 31, 2017 at 4:41 PM
South Africa pacer Wayne Parnell has said the team is focusing on their goal of winning the Champions trophy 2017, which is scheduled to be played in England in June. The Proteas recently won the first ODI against Sri Lanka and will up against the same team in the second ODI at Durban on February 1. Both teams will be playing three more ODIs after that. After this, they’ll be up against New Zealand as well.
After that series, South Africa will travel to England just before the Champions Trophy, which will be the best opportunity for them to prepare for the tournament.
“Winning is ultimately why we play the game. Our short term goal is ICC Champions Trophy, we want to win an ICC event,” said Parnell.
“We first have the next four matches to think about and we need to dominate them (Sri Lanka) seeing that we will face them in the tournament.
“I am happy to contribute to the team’s success. It’s an important ODI series for us leading into New Zealand and the ICC Champions Trophy after that.”“I expect them to bounce back,” he said.
Further talking about the second ODI, he said the Durban game will be a challenge for them as it’s a different venue, compared to the first ODI.
“Every venue poses a different challenge. We have to wait and see what Durban has to offer and then move on to the next venue.
“I felt that we executed our plan nicely and Imran Tahir was world class as he always is.
“This is probably our strongest squad. We implemented what worked in the past; using our home advantage and being smarter than them. I think taking care of their big players is what we focus on.”
South Africa is one of the strongest contenders to win the Champions Trophy 2017 but only thing they have to get over is their choking habit, which has been the ghost that has been haunting them at big stages, i.e. ICC tournaments.