Our fate is in our hands: Jacques Kallis

St George's, Grenada, Apr 15 (UNI) ''Our fate is still in our hands,'' South Africa vice-captain Jacques Kallis said after his team's five-wicket loss to New Zealand in the Super Eight league match of the cricket World Cup here.

Asked by reporters whether he still fancies a place for his team in the semi-finals, Kallis said, ''Our fate is in our hands as far as the team's chances for the further progress is concerned.'' Trying to put up a brave front, Kallis asserted the ''we need three big performances and we are capable of doing it(to win the World Cup).'' South Africa are on tenterhooks as their future seems uncertain in this World Cup as they must win their last Super Eight match against England in Barbados on April 17 to qualify for the last four stage.

''The match against England in Barbados will virtually be a quarter-final for us. We can not afford to let it slip,'' Kallis admitted.

About the match against New Zealand, he was of the view that morning conditions have played a decisive role in the day's outcome.

He said the toss played a critical role. ''It did a lot for the first 20 overs and we played the one-dayer like Test cricket and from then on it was a catch-up time for us.'' Kallis claimed that his team did not do too badly with the bat on that sort of pitch. ''We probably could have made 20-25 runs more but it wasn't a big-total wicket.

Then I thought our bowlers bowled well in the afternoon by which time the conditions had improved.

''It was unfortunate we didn't accept every chance which came our way but overall I feel it's the toss which played a critical role.'' Kallis referred to the surprise defeat at the hands of Bangladesh which has threatened his team's chances, saying ''It was a bad loss and we have had a couple of bad performances along the way.'' He went on to add that now the match against England would be important not only for the result but also because of the issues surrounding England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

Pietersen, a South African by birth who chose to play for England, has had no love lost against the South Africans and he has been making some strong statements against them.

''They have a few big players and we need to watch out for them.

It's a big game but we are backing ourselves up,'' Kallis added while side-stepping a reference to Pietersen.

UNI