The ongoing quest for gold

Dudley Carstens|Published 3 years ago

South African batsman Rassie van der Dussen says the team understand exactly what they need to against Australia tomorrow. Picture: Phando Jikelo, African News Agency (ANA)

AFTER 14 failed attempts at winning a World Cup, South Africa will try again in the T20 version kicking off in the UAE on Saturday.

Up against fierce rivals Australia in their opener at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi (12pm), the Proteas will look to finally break jare of hartseer in global events when they kick off the Super 12 stage of the competition.

With momentum on their side after beating Afghanistan and Pakistan in their midweek warm-up matches, hero of the match against Pakistan with his unbeaten 101 off just 51 balls, Rassie van der Dussen, believes they should forget about those results and just focus on Australia.

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He says: “The real test starts on Saturday, we will take the lessons from the warm-up games – the good and the bad. But there is still a lot of cricket to be played.

“We know what we need to do on Saturday.”

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Having failed in eight ODI tournaments and six T20s since 1992, South Africa have been labelled chokers in the past – often losing because of one big error.

Under coach Mark Boucher and the leadership of Temba Bavuma, the message from the camp has been that they will not think about past failures.

Skipper Temba Bavuma will lead by example to get his team into the play-off berths. File Picture: Leon Lestrade, African News Agency (ANA)

Heading into their Group 1 opener which also sees England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka and another qualifier vying for a top two berth which will secure qualification for the semi-finals, South Africa are sweating on the fitness of spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who pulled up with a tight groin in Wednesday’s warm-up match against Pakistan.