- South Africa has a balanced mix of young and experienced players.
- Kallis believes that South Africa’s pace attack will be crucial.
- Du Plessis cautions that South Africa will face a challenge.
South African cricket legends Jacques Kallis and Faf du Plessis have offered their insights on how the Proteas might perform in the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
As they head into the prestigious tournament in India, South Africa has a balanced mix of both youthful talents and experienced players to choose from.
When the selection committee convenes to assemble their squad for the World Cup, they will have the opportunity to select from promising young talents such as Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, and Gerald Coetzee, in addition to established players like Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma, and David Miller.
While discussing the team’s prospects with the cricket media, legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis emphasized that South Africa’s key to success would be remaining true to their distinctive style of cricket.
“The one thing that needs to change for South Africa to be successful in a Cricket World Cup is to carry on playing the cricket that we’ve played going into the World Cup,” he said.
“We have a history of playing good cricket leading into the World Cup. For some reason, things change. Maybe we want it too much.
“I think players wanted too much and you’ve gone outside of the area you need to be doing. Maybe going outside of their roles because they wanted too much.”
The current crop of athletes might learn a lot from Kallis’ sound advice: “Stick to your roles. Trust the partner next to you. And just play the cricket you’ve been playing.”
The pace attack of South Africa, according to Kallis, will once again be crucial to their prospects.
“South Africa’s strength to me is going to be in our bowling attack,” he said. “We’ve got some quality pace bowlers that can blow away the opposition’s top-order. And I think they are going to play a major role if South Africa are going to get far, if we do get far (in the tournament).”
Kallis’ optimism was matched by former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis.
“South Africa’s white-ball team is in a strong place,” du Plessis told the ICC. “They’ve got some real experience going into that World Cup.”
Du Plessis did, however, caution that Temba Bavuma’s men would face the greatest difficulty in adjusting to the subcontinent’s circumstances.
“The challenge for all teams that are not from the subcontinent is obviously always the challenge of going to the subcontinent,” he said.
“Especially 50-over cricket. I find with T20 cricket, the surfaces are a bit more even. And you get some really good pitches. With 50-over cricket, you can get that wear and tear and the spinners really come into their own.”
However, Du Plessis said that the sides to beat would be the home nation, India, and perennial champion Australia.
“I think South Africa has got a really good side,” he said. “It will be hard to get past a team like India in home conditions. The other team you can never write off is Australia, with them being so successful in ICC events.”
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