Arthur keeps calm

South Africa captain Graeme Smith departs after falling to Umar Gul © Getty Images

Coach Mickey Arthur is refusing to panic despite South Africa’s crushing World Cup warm-up defeat to Pakistan.

The top-ranked one-day international team were beaten by seven wickets after being dismissed for 199 with nine balls of their 50 overs remaining. Pakistan cruised to their target in 44.3 overs.

“We are happy that the guys had a good run,” said Arthur, who was nevertheless worried about the state of the pitch in Trinidad.

Questions about the quality of the track were raised after 16 overs of the match, when South Africa were 56 for three, with Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince at the wicket.

The pair protested to umpires Peter Parker and Ian Gould that the pitch was dangerous.

The umpires spent 20 minutes in discussion with coaches of both teams and officials before ruling that play should go on.

Arthur said: “We had some concerns with the pitch but the umpires said it was okay, so we continued to play.

“We did not want to risk having a player like Kallis getting injured before the tournament.”

Bob Woolmer expects his team to come good in the World Cup

Arthur believes the interruption caused his batsmen to lose some momentum.

“We did not put up the score we wanted, which was at least 220,” Arthur said.

“I am, however, confident in the ability of the players and I am sure we will get better pitches as the tournament goes on.

“The bowlers had a good workout and the only area of concern for us at the moment is the top order.

“We have to get Kallis, [Graeme] Smith, [AB] de Villiers and [Herschelle] Gibbs into some sort of form and, once this happens, we are going to reach very far in this tournament.

Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer took the result with “a pinch of salt”.

“It’s a 13-a-side game,” he said. “We need to win when the real matches start.

“As I see it, we need at least five wins before we get to the knockout stage of the tournament and this would be against really good sides - which means a tremendous amount of work has to go into our game.

“I am not worried about the Pakistani team. I think we have a good team and, once the players get going, we will do well.

“We have had a good run here and what the guys need to do is to keep up the intensity and build on it as we move on.”