South Africa National Cricket Team

The South African National Cricket team is one of the most successful teams in the history of One Day International cricket. South Africa has been a powerful force in the Cricket World Cup since its emergence from isolation.

However, a tendency to make mistakes at crucial moments has earned the team a chokers tag, and prevented them from progressing further than the semifinals of the tournament.

Nickname: Proteas
Captain: Graeme Smith
Coach: Micky Arthur
Best Cricket World Cup Performance: semifinals (1992, 1998, 2007)

2011 Cricket World Cup

The South Africans will want to ditch the chokers tag they have acquired when they head for the 2011 Cricket World Cup in Asia. The squad competing in the tournament will feature a good balance of youth and experience, but may be handicapped by the lack of a world class spin bowler capable of taking advantage of the conditions on the subcontinent.

Cricket World Cup History

South Africa emerged from isolation just in time to compete in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. The strength of the strong domestic game was evident in South Africa’s first Cricket World Cup outing, as the team managed to progress to the semi-finals before losing to England, in a match rendered farcical by the Duckworth-Lewis system.

The 1996 Cricket World Cup in Asia saw South Africa brought down to earth with a bump, as the team only managed to reach the quarterfinals before being eliminated by the West Indies in Karachi. The tournament highlighted the South Africans’ major weakness – an inability to deal with world-class spin bowlers, and the absence of one of these in the squad.

Conditions at the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England were more to South Africa’s liking, and the team appeared to be on course for the title until they ran into Australia in the semifinals. In one of the most famous matches in Cricket World Cup history, South Africa squandered a winning position with just 4 balls left in the match.

Worse was to come for South Africa at the 2003 Cricket World Cup, where they failed to progress to the knockout rounds for the first time. Once again, it was a minor error that cost South Africa dearly, as the team management miscalculated the number of runs required to win a rain-affected match.

South Africa was back in form at the 2007 Cricket World Cup, taking advantage of the pace-friendly Caribbean wickets to advance to the semifinals. The Proteas met the Australians in the semifinals and were promptly dismissed for their lowest ever total, exiting the tournament with a meek 7 wicket defeat.