South Africa captain AB de Villiers is confident of beating New Zealand in the World Cup semi-finals at Auckland on Tuesday. The Proteas did lose twice in the group stage of the tournament to India and Pakistan but they claimed the important victory over Sri Lanka in the last-eight – their first ever knockout win in the competition.
The 1998 ICC Champions Trophy had previously exited the World Cup at the quarter-final stage on two occasions, losing to West Indies in 1996 and most recently The Kiwis in 2011.
Semi-final exits were suffered in 1992, 1999 and 2007 but these fixtures were the first knockout matches of the tournament due to the round-robin format used in 92, the Super Six’s in 99 and the Super 8′s in 07.
The past failures are in the past now though after the victory over Sri Lanka and many have suggested that this World Cup is the best chance the Proteas have of lifting the title.
De Villiers has been particularly impressive for South Africa in the tournament so far with the captain scoring the record amount of sixes (20) in the group stage.
It is the bowlers that have been the shining light though with the Proteas conceding 5.78 runs on average in the last 15 overs of the innings, another competition best.
De Villiers is looking forward to the semi-final clash against New Zealand, who have won seven from as many games, and the skipper insists his side will be too good if they play to their best at Eden Park.
“It’s silly to focus too much on the cricket they’ve played,†he said. “I believe if we play to our full potential, nobody is going to stop us in this tournament.
“If we play a good game of cricket we’ll come out on top. We’re that confident in our abilities as a cricket team. We’ve played some really good cricket in New Zealand. In the last five ODIs we’ve come out on top, and that’s what we focus on now.â€
The 1998 ICC Champions Trophy had previously exited the World Cup at the quarter-final stage on two occasions, losing to West Indies in 1996 and most recently The Kiwis in 2011.
Semi-final exits were suffered in 1992, 1999 and 2007 but these fixtures were the first knockout matches of the tournament due to the round-robin format used in 92, the Super Six’s in 99 and the Super 8′s in 07.
The past failures are in the past now though after the victory over Sri Lanka and many have suggested that this World Cup is the best chance the Proteas have of lifting the title.
De Villiers has been particularly impressive for South Africa in the tournament so far with the captain scoring the record amount of sixes (20) in the group stage.
It is the bowlers that have been the shining light though with the Proteas conceding 5.78 runs on average in the last 15 overs of the innings, another competition best.
De Villiers is looking forward to the semi-final clash against New Zealand, who have won seven from as many games, and the skipper insists his side will be too good if they play to their best at Eden Park.
“It’s silly to focus too much on the cricket they’ve played,†he said. “I believe if we play to our full potential, nobody is going to stop us in this tournament.
“If we play a good game of cricket we’ll come out on top. We’re that confident in our abilities as a cricket team. We’ve played some really good cricket in New Zealand. In the last five ODIs we’ve come out on top, and that’s what we focus on now.â€
