Sports
Pressure is South Africa's toughest opponent (World Cup team profile)
Christchurch, Feb 6
South Africa has always
had teams capable of winning the ICC World Cup but due to forces above
and sometimes their own doing, they have faltered at crucial junctures.
The current crop of players led by the ever-talented AB de Villiers,
however, will look to shed the tag of 'chokers' and 'nearly men' and
give the country their first major trophy.
South Africa's World
Cup campaign has been a tale of heartbreaks - right from their first
participation in 1992 when the rain gods conspired against them and in
2011 when they were the odds on favourite to beat New Zealand in the
quarters but the batting failed to cope with the pressure.
Not to
forget, in between there was also the small situation of a tied
semifinal with Australia, who advanced because of group-stage win.
South
Africa were poised to win the game, needing one to win off four balls
and a wicket in hand. But a major mix-up between Lance Klusener and
Allan Donald gave the Australians the thoroughfare.
More than
beating their opponents South Africa will have to battle the demons
within and push back the pressure under which they have been weighed
down one too many times.
The scars of events of the past still exist but led by De Villiers it would be hard to bet against them.
The
Proteas will feel right at home in Australia and New Zealand, and a
classy batting line-up backed by an arsenal of quicks with the ability
to not only beat batsmen by pace but also their movement.
South
Africa will have little problems getting past the group stage and their
only real test could be against the defending champions India.
The likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir will surely cause more than a few problems for the opposition.
The
batting will be led by De Villiers, who in the lead-up to the
tournament, smashed the fastest century in ODIs, off just 31 balls in a
match against the West Indies. He has also hovered around the World No.1
one-day ranking for the last five years and captaincy has not dimmed
his form either.
The solid batting skills of Hashim Amla at the
top of the order, juxtaposed with the ruthleness of JP Duminy and David
Miller, leaves South Africa with a right mix of sanity and aggression.
Many
believe this will be the tournament when South Africa claim the elusive
trophy but that's what they said the last time and the time before
that.
Squad:
AB de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Kyle
Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis,
Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso,
Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn.












