COLOMBO: Pakistan, suddenly cast among the serious contender for its second World Cup title after beating Sri Lanka, has the chance to fine-tune its fielding and bowling Thursday in preparation for tougher tests ahead. The 1992 winner takes on Canada here with the full expectation of adding to a perfect record in Group A after beating the co-host Saturday and Kenya earlier. Almost as important as collecting maximum points and building on its positive net run-rate will be the opportunity to work on some of the departments of its game which could still do with plenty of work – almost all in the field. Pakistan team manager Intikhab Alam is delighted that, after being plagued with off-field problems for so long including a corruption scandal involving three players, they can play at the World Cup without the pressure of being among the favorites. At least until now. “It's good that we were not the favorites to win this World Cup and that has enabled the team to play without any pressure,” he told reporters at a training session. “The team has peaked at the right time,” he said. “Pakistan is blessed with talents. If you take each of our spin bowlers they bowl in a different manner and our fast bowlers have a lot of variation.” Canada has yet to win a game in a World Cup since its only victory against Bangladesh in Durban 2003. It was bowled out for 36 by Sri Lanka in the same World Cup to record the lowest ever score by a team in the tournament. The North Americans have started the tournament with a 210-run defeat by Sri Lanka and on Monday they suffered a 175-run beating by Zimbabwe. Pakistan, however, know only too well that taking any opponent lightly at a World Cup is a mug's game after premature exits in both 2003 and 2007, the latter after a shock defeat to Ireland. Both Alam and captain Shahid Afridi have admitted concerns about their poor fielding. Meanwhile, Pakistan is also thinking of resting opening fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar Thursday, coach Waqar Younis said. “So far, we have not decided the team. We are thinking about it but I can't give a confirmed answer until tomorrow,” Waqar told a pre-match news conference in Colombo. “Then again you want to get the rhythm going, momentum going. So you don't want to give him too long a rest because it's hot and you need to get used to that. So I am not sure about that.” Canada captain Ashish Bagai said he was deeply unhappy with his team's performances in the first two matches. “Definitely we are very, very disappointed,” said Bagai. He said his team needed to address its shortcomings. Proteas likely to experiment against Dutch A relaxed South Africa team can afford to experiment in Thursday's Group B match in Mohali against its Dutch opponents who seem to have run out of steam after just one good show in the World Cup. Already the South African team management has indicated that one of the three spinners, all of whom did a brilliant demolition job against West Indies last week, would be rested during Thursday's match which faces a considerable rain threat. Rain lashed most parts of the northern state of Punjab and the local weather office has forecast some more for the next two days. With Mohali traditionally offering more bounce than most Indian tracks and the early morning conditions also favoring the pace bowlers, South Africa would be tempted to gift Lonwabo Tsotsobe an advance birthday gift in the form of a place in the playing XI for the day match. “Obviously we've got to look at the conditions in the matches coming up. Morning (conditions) and freshness of wicket do come into play,” bowling coach Vincent Barnes said before leaving for Mohali. “He (Lonwabo) is a very skilful bowler, the big advantage is that he is tall and gets good bounce,” Barnes said of the towering paceman who turns 27 on March 7. “He is one of our best bowlers in the past six months. It's just a pity that we had to keep somebody out and play three spinners.” The fitness woes notwithstanding, South Africa still have enough firepower to whip the Dutch, who are clearly struggling to match the standard they set against England. The Dutch nearly pulled off this World Cup's first upset before narrowly going down with eight balls to spare. Their fortune clearly depends on their batsmen, Ryan ten Doeschate and Tom Cooper to be precise, who would have to be at their best Thursday to give their erratic bowlers a decent total to defend. The South African-born batsman Ten Doeschate is looking forward to facing his former compatriots. “South Africa is probably one of the favorite teams here and one of the strongest teams,” Ten Doeschate said. “It's a massive mismatch. Personally, (there is) obviously a little bit of an edge to it but I'm not feeling very emotional. I'm not feeling the need to impress or the need to make a point. The nice thing is there's not too much expectation on us.”
