‘It’s the hope that kills you’ – Proteas take another waft at winning Cricket World Cup

Most Proteas’ supporters know all too well that it’s the hope that kills you, but this time around, there really is reason to be bullish about the Proteas’ chances.

England and New Zealand will get the tournament underway in a repeat of the pulsating 2019 final at Lords, which saw Eoin Morgan's England lift the trophy for the first time.

On the southernmost tip of Africa, there definitely is a sense of reserve and very little hype around Temba Bavuma's side as they begin their campaign on Saturday against Sri Lanka.

It's been a tough run of World Cups, with a heart-breaking semi-final loss against New Zealand in 2015 and then a horrific group stage exit in 2019, so it would serve Proteas fans well to take a far more circumspect attitude to the national cricket side going into World Cups.

With that said, there's room for optimism.

Despite their mixed bag of results across all formats, the Proteas are unbeaten in their last four ODI series.

In those series, they've beaten Australia and England as well as the Netherlands and a drawn series with the West Indies.

Their most recent series against Australia might be the brightest light for the Proteas going into the World Cup as the side came back from two-nil down to win the series three-two against a stacked Aussie team.

With nine matches to negotiate for the Proteas before they will either be in the semi-finals or on the plane back home, the experience in the squad cannot be overlooked.

David Miller, Quinton de Kock, captain Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, and Aiden Markram will shoulder most of the batting responsibility. In the past, the batting has deserted the Proteas in the big games, and they will need to rectify that if they want to be successful.

In my opinion, Heinrich Klaasen will hold the keys for the Proteas batting line-up. The middle-order basher has been in unreal form in the last twelve months, and his ability to take an innings away from a bowling side will be crucial.

Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi are going to be the bowlers to stand up in the absence of Anrich Nortje.

Nortje was ruled out due to a stress fracture, so the seamer duo of Rabada and Ngidi are going to have to bowl many overs while Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi nail down the other end.

The bowling will be the biggest concern for Rob Walter and Temba Bavuma, but one hopes that batters will be able to set and chase like never before for the whole tournament.

Having one group of ten teams means that the Proteas must play every team, which infers the team will need to be on their game for the entire group phase of the competition.

Winning five games could get South Africa into the last four, while six wins will all but guarantee them a spot in that semi-finals.

That means wins against Afghanistan, Netherlands and Sri Lanka will be vital since the other six sides will prove more difficult to beat.

Starting with a win on Saturday against Sri Lanka will set a strong tone for the Proteas going into the rest of the competition.