South Africa shaping up well - Smith

Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, says his side will come out with all guns blazing against Scotland on Tuesday and he is well aware of the capabilities of the tournament's underdogs. Bangladesh and Ireland bagged upset wins on Saturday, beating India and Pakistan respectively, and South Africa struggled in the warm-up stage against Ireland.

However, Smith's side had an easy outing in their first match of the tournament against the minnows The Netherlands, trouncing them by 221 runs in St Kitts, but their biggest test will come when they meet Australia on Saturday. "We are focused on our match against Scotland, because this is the match to play for now," Smith told AFP.

"After what happened in Trinidad [during the warm-up stage] we arrived in St Kitts and since then have had better preparation. The batsmen have had good workouts and the bowlers bowled a few so I am happy with the preparations."

Against The Netherlands the batsmen took the opportunity to collect some records, with Herschelle Gibbs slamming six sixes off an over and Mark Boucher smashing the fastest World Cup fifty off 21 balls. In the middle of it all Jacques Kallis helped himself to an unbeaten 128. The only player to miss out was AB de Villiers, who was dismissed second ball.

"He [de Villiers] had a good series against Pakistan back home and there is no doubt in my mind that he is a good player and will be among runs soon," Smith said. "We know Scotland are a slightly better side so we need to improve. We have analysed some video footage of them."

Peter Drinnen, the Scotland coach, said his team was looking forward to the challenge of playing the best side in the world. Scotland were overwhelmed by 203 runs against Australia in their first match and are hoping for improvement.

"We are excited by the challenge and both Australia and South Africa in our group provide us with two real challenges," Drinnen said. "South Africa have been playing tough cricket for the last year. But we have to think about what we are doing and we need to pose a stronger challenge than we did against Australia."