South Africa has a chance to finally shed its reputation as one of the most mentally fragile teams in international sport when it takes on Sri Lanka in what should be a tight World Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday.
The Proteas boast the No. 1-ranked batsman in world cricket in skipper A.B. de Villiers, while elegant Sri Lanka left-hander Kumar Sangakkara’s four successive centuries make him the most dominant batsman of the tournament.
Neither side has had the bowling performances they had hoped for so far, but both are expecting key interventions from their top pacemen in the knock-out stages — Dale Steyn for South Africa and Lasith Malinga for Sri Lanka.
Both showed good form in the pool stage but lost two of their six games, while their record against each other in One-Day Internationals is well balanced with Sri Lanka just ahead on 29 wins to 28 for South Africa.
Where Sri Lanka has a clear edge, however, is in the World Cup. The champion in 1996 and finalist in the 2007 and 2011 tournaments, the islanders have shown the ability to hit form at the right time and flourish in the pressure of the knock-out stage.
South Africa, by contrast, has lived with the ‘chokers’ tag for many years now, and defeat at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Wednesday will trigger another bout of soul-searching back home. It was at the SCG that the South Africans bowed out of their first World Cup in 1992 after the target revision due to rain disruption condemned them to defeat against England.
On paper, the 2015 side is the equal of any of their predecessors and, it appears, the biggest threat to them winning a first knock-out match at a World Cup is themselves.
Sri Lanka knows that and will take any opportunity it has to ramp up the pressure.
With Hashim Amla at the top of the order and Faf du Plessis fit again after a back problem, South Africa has enough batting to carry one out-of-form player even before you consider the carnage de Villiers can wreak on his day.
The teams (from): South Africa : AB de Villiers (capt), Hashim Amla, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw and Dale Steyn
Sri Lanka : Angelo Mathews (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Sachithra Senanayake, Dushmantha Chameera, Upul Tharanga, Seekkuge Prasanna and Rangana Herath
Umpires: Rod Tucker and Nigel Llong.
