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Proteas have free run at Cricket World Cup
A good start will be key for Temba Bavuma and his charges in the tournament in India.
Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller chat during a training session ahead of their World Cup opening game. Picture: Isuru Sameera Peiris/Gallo Images
The Proteas head into the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India with very little expectations placed on their shoulders, which will hopefully help them put in a strong showing on the subcontinent.
The Proteas have been given the unfortunate chokers tag since their reintroduction into international cricket in the early 90s due their failure in major tournaments, despite going into many of them with the favourites tag.
With that not the case for this year’s World Cup the players will hopefully have a lot less pressure placed on them which should give them more freedom to play their game.
This could allow them to fly under the radar and possibly shock a few of the more favoured sides in the competition.
Good start
The Proteas also have a fantastic opportunity to get off to the best possible start by playing two of arguably the weaker teams in their first three games.
They open their campaign against Sri Lanka on Saturday, before taking on one of the favourites, Australia, and then front up against the Netherlands.
Sri Lanka have struggled in ODIs over the past few years, which saw them not able to qualify automatically for this year’s World Cup and they had to make it in through the play-offs, along with the Netherlands.
The Proteas will also be eyeing a possible win over Australia with them currently on a three game winning streak against them after they produced a stunning fightback to win their recent series in South Africa 3-2.
They were absolutely dominated by Australia in the T20I series losing it 3-0 and then lost the first two ODIs by three wickets and 123-runs, only to power back to claim huge wins in the final three ODIs by 111-runs, 164-runs and 122-runs respectively.
That gives the Proteas great momentum against Australia and although they will be strengthened by the return of key players like Steve Smith, Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Starc, the Proteas could still target a fourth straight win against them.
If the Proteas can at least clinch two good wins in their opening three games it would set them up very well for the remainder of the tournament.
