South Africa’s dreams of finally lifting an International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup is still very much alive.
Unbeaten in the tournament after their four group-stage matches, the Proteas were not at their best to date with unconvincing wins over Sri Lanka (six wickets), Netherlands (four wickets), Bangladesh (four runs) and Nepal (one run).
Still, they were the first team to qualify in the Super 8s where they will be joined by co-hosts USA and West Indies, as well as defending champions England, who booked their place in the tournament’s “quarterfinals” over the weekend.
The four teams in Group 2 will play each other once, with the top two teams then advancing to the semifinals against the two top teams from Group 1 comprising Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh and India.
The good thing for South Africa is that they haven’t peaked yet in the tournament and after Tabraiz Shamsi took 4/19 to help them beat Nepal by a single run on Saturday, Markram is confident.
Asked whether it’s still the dream to lift the cup, the Proteas skipper says: “It is the dream, 100 percent. You take it game by game and you compete as hard and as best as you can. And you ultimately see where it gets you.
Touch Down. ✈️
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) June 17, 2024
Our Proteas Men have arrived in Antigua for the first of their Super 8’s clashes. 🇿🇦#OutOfThisWorld #T20WorldCup#BePartOfIt #WozaNawe pic.twitter.com/1H0CpjWFPN
“But I’m looking forward to that phase now of the competition. Really grateful that we are in the Super Eights and hoping that we can put a more complete game of cricket together now that we move forward to the business end of the competition.”
After Wednesday’s match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, South Africa face England on Friday before playing their final match in the group against the West Indies next Monday.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za