Former South African cricket team legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis advised the Proteas team to stick to their roles during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
Kallis mentioned that in the past, the players’ eagerness caused them to go beyond their assigned roles, resulting in unsuccessful campaigns. During an interview with the ICC, Kallis shared his views on how the Proteas might perform in the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.
The South African team enters the important tournament in India with a good mix of young and experienced players to choose from. Despite having some of cricket’s most thrilling and skilled players in their squad over the years, South Africa has never managed to win a major ICC World Cup event and are called the biggest chokers of the ICC events.
When the South African will be picked for the World Cup, they will have the opportunity to select promising young talents such as Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, and Gerald Coetzee. Alongside them, there will be experienced players like Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma, and David Miller.
Despite the squad’s quality, the South African cricket team legend Kallis, in an interview exclusively with the ICC, emphasized that South Africa’s success hinges on them maintaining their distinctive style of play.
“The crucial factor for South Africa’s success in a Cricket World Cup is to maintain the same style of cricket we’ve been playing leading up to the tournament,” Kallis stated, as quoted by the ICC.
He continued, “We’ve seen a pattern where we play well before the World Cup, but then things change during the tournament. It could be due to wanting success too desperately. Players might exceed their roles in their eagerness.”
Kallis offered important advice to the current players: “Stick to your roles, have faith in your teammates, and continue with the brand of cricket that has brought you success.”
The former Proteas and IPL winning player for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) believes that South African cricket team’s biggest strength is their pace bowling with the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Marco Jansen etc. He hopes that the pace bowlers will live-up to the hype and take South Africa all the way to the Trophy.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India kicks-off on the 5th of October with England cricket team taking on New Zealand, the edition’s finalists. Meanwhile South Africa will begin their campaign in the tournament on the 7th of August when they will play against Sri Lanka in their opening match in Delhi. The World Cup semi-finals are to be played on the 15th and 16th November while the Final will be played on the 19th of November.
