South Africa

ICC World Cup. Click here to bet.

Group: B Seeding: 2 Sky Bet Odds: 100/30 Squad: AB de Villiers (capt,wk), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir. Previous World Cup appearances: 6 World Cup best: Semi-finals 1992, 1999, 2007 World Cup 2011: QF

Last 12 months: Results: P 24 W 16 L 7 NR 1 Top batsman: Hashim Amla, 1305 runs at 68.68 Top bowler: Imran Tahir, 29 wickets at 23.00

For South Africas World Cup chances here, see just about every other tournament since their debut in the event back in 1992.

There is so much quality in this team its frightening. Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are arguably the best two batsmen in the world on current form, while the support provided by the likes of Faf du Plessie, Quinton de Kock and David Miller is none too shabby.

Dale Steyn is still the best in the business, Morne Morkel can take teams apart and Imran Tahir has been a real hit in the limited-overs side despite proving to be expensive and non-threatening in Tests.

The Proteas go into this tournament as second favourites behind the Aussies and on paper its easy to see why. But on grass things have so often been different.

Their record in knockout games at ICC events is absolutely wretched. Theyve lost three semi-finals in their six tournaments and in 2011 went out to New Zealand in the last eight having cruised through the group stage. A repeat cannot be ruled out.

Beyond the psychological scars of the chokers tag, the big weakness in this team appears to be the back-up seam bowling behind Steyn and Morkel.

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South Africa