The hard work starts here, says South African coach

FRIGATE BAY, St Kitts, Mar 13 (Reuters) South Africa arrived in St Kitts eager to justify their number one ranking in the World Cup and determined to get down to serious work after a relaxed build-up.

''This is the proper competition and we're really keen to get underway,'' South African coach Mickey Arthur told reporters soon after the squad's arrival late yesterday.

''We have given the guys a little bit of leeway up until now, but this is where the serious stuff starts.

''The honeymoon is over, if you like.'' LOFTY RANKING Despite their lofty ranking, South Africa struggled in their two warm-up matches.

They had to rally to beat minnows Ireland by 35 runs before slipping to a seven-wicket loss against Pakistan on Friday.

Arthur said his team, who take on the Netherlands in their first match in Basseterre, St Kitts, on Friday, would be hard at work to complete their preparations.

''We'll be giving it a go from 0830 (1800 hrs IST) tomorrow morning (Tuesday), and there won't be any need to get the boys up for that -- they'll be raring to go,'' Arthur said.

Arthur said South Africa would treat their matches against weaker teams like the Netherlands and Scotland the same way they approached their high-profile Group A match against champions Australia.

South Africa meet Scotland on March 20 and they face Australia four days later.

''We've done some work on the Dutch, we have some video footage of them,'' Arthur said.

''I've always called these games, against the Netherlands and Scotland, the two scary games.

''We want to get them out the way, and we have to play properly against them -- we don't need any slip-ups.'' The Australians, Scottish and Dutch squads also arrived in St Kitts yesterday.

Australia take on Scotland in the first Group A match tomorrow.

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