Cricket: South Africa ready to beat the 'C' word

AB de Villiers is the top-ranked ODI batsman and has also hit the fastest century. Photo / Alan Gibson

They’ve had some disastrous failures, but this year’s squad look poised for success

South Africa seem to have a real chance of breaking their World Cup duck - but appearances on paper often bear little resemblance to the end result.

That's something the Proteas well know, having seen a succession of highly-rated teams fall short on cricket's biggest stage.

South Africa will start next month's tournament carrying a burden like that of the pre-2011 All Blacks.

A string of quarter-final and semifinal exits - some in calamitous fashion against the odds - has resulted in AB de Villiers' side being tagged with the awful "C" word.

The "choker" tag will stick to South Africa until they finally lift the main prize. It is fortunate, then, that 2015 give them a serious opportunity to do just that.

The Proteas are the third-ranked one-day side in cricket, trailing Australia and India. Only the Aussies are on shorter odds to win the Cup.

A glance at South Africa's 15-man squad explains why the ICC and the TAB hold them in such high regard. De Villiers is the No 1 batsman in the game; any doubts about his pedigree were dispatched in the 31 thunderous deliveries he took this week to score the quickest century in ODI history.

But before opposition bowling attacks can try their luck against de Villiers, they must first face perhaps the game's greatest one-day batsman.

Hashim Amla, third in the ICC batting rankings, yesterday increased his average in the coloured clothing to 55.59 from 106 matches, trailing only Ryan ten Doeschate of the Netherlands - who has played a third of the innings and been able to dine out on sub-par attacks.

And it's a similar story in the bowling, where seamers pair Dale Steyn (third in the ICC rankings) and Morne Morkel (seventh) form a formidable pair with the white ball.

With such a talented starting XI, it could be easy to get carried away and crown South Africa as champions-in-waiting - until the focus turns to their one apparent weakness - the top two inches.

Can the Proteas move past their defeats against New Zealand in the 2001 quarter-finals, Australia in the 2007 semifinals and, most disastrously, Australia again in the 1999 semifinals?

That last departure, when a catastrophic run out tied the match and let Australia advance, is especially painful.

But today's players have the pedigree, the composure and the form to atone for the mistakes of the past.

Proteas have it all, except the big one

One-day international ranking: 3
World Cup record:
1992 Semifinals - vs England.
1996 Quarter-finals - vs West Indies.
1999 Semifinals - vs Australia.
2003 First round.
2007 Semifinals - vs Australia.
2011 Quarter-finals - vs New Zealand.
Captain: AB de Villiers.
Stars: De Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn.
Watch out for: Quinton de Kock - The young top-order batsman has scored six ODI centuries in his first 35 games including three tons in a row against India in 2013.
Strengths: Only batting, bowling and fielding. South Africa are strong in every aspect of the game except possibly the extra 2 per cent upstairs.
Weaknesses: Winning the big one. They've been labelled with the "chokers" tag for some time now following the semifinal defeat to Australia in 1999 when the match finished as a tie.
Nemesis: Australia - Twice knocked them out in the semifinals (1999 and 2007) but then again Australia have knocked a lot of teams out of World Cups.
TAB odds: $4.50.

Squad: AB de Villiers (c), Hashim Amla (vc), 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.