Team South Africa
Ever since South Africa started to feature in the World Cups from 1992 onwards they used to choke in the crucial stage of the championship after starting the tournament with flying colours. No matter how fancied the team is.
In 1992 it was luck and the controversial rain rule that have resulted the team to catch the early flights home. In 1996 world cup as well the Proteas began the tournament in a fantastic possible manner winning every of their 5 group matches. However, in the quarter finals against the West Indies, a magnificent century by Brian Lara has knocked the South Africans out from the championship. The same story followed in the 1999 world cup as well when Lance Klusener carried the team upto the semi finals and it was looking that the Proteas march in the finals was just a matter of time. In that moment Allan Donald committed a stupid act while taking the winning run resulting the match end in a tie and since Australia beat South Africa in the super six stages it was Australia who sailed in the championship match. As a host in the 2003 world cup South Africa fared poorly and was never into the reckoning. The Proteas played very poor cricket in the semi-finals of the 2007 world cup and lost the match against the Australians. In 2011 world cup quarter finals against New Zealand they lost the match tamely after poised to win at one stage. Same thing happened in the 2015 semi-finals against the very same Kiwis when Grant Elliott shattered the Proteas’ dreams. However in 2019 the South Africans played very poor cricket right throughout the tournament.
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How will the Proteas present themselves in the 2023 world cup? Eight of the fifteen players in the squad, including skipper Temba Bavuma, will be playing their first World Cup. Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, and Rassie van der Dussen will share the responsibility in the batting department. Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi will share the responsibility in the pace bowling department whereas Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi will take care of the spinning department.
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Quinton de Kock has announced that this World Cup will be his last and he will be quitting the ODIs. Will the team deliver something at least for de Kock? Well it’s the time to answer this multi million dollar question.
