WELLINGTON: South Africa still believe they are the best team at the World Cup despite defeats to India and Pakistan and will be out to prove it in their final pool match against United Arab Emirates (UAE), skipper A.B. de Villiers said on Wednesday.

Victory over the Emirates in Wellington on Thursday will secure them second place in Pool ‘B’ behind India and a quarter-final meeting with Sri Lanka in Sydney on March 18.

The Proteas were one of the favourites ahead of the tournament but have dropped into the pack behind world champion India and the Australasian host nations after the two defeats.

“We didn’t expect to be five from five,” De Villiers told reporters at the Westpac Stadium. “The World Cup is a funny tournament. You’ve got to take whatever comes your way, and we’ve had a rocky road.

“But I guess if you look at the standings at the moment, we win the last game, we’ll be in a good position to go with a lot of confidence into the quarters.

“Yes, we would have liked to win those two big games against India and Pakistan. It didn’t happen that way, and there’s no time to sulk about that now.

“Now it’s important to be confident, and I still want the boys to believe we’re the best, which we are. We’re just going to go in with that kind of attitude in tomorrow’s game, and then whatever comes around for the quarters, we’ll take it head on.”

South Africa have a concern over the lower back of batsman Faf du Plessis, while paceman Vernon Philander will also have a fitness test on Thursday morning.

Both of South Africa’s defeats have come when they batted second under pressure but de Villiers said he was still confident there was not a total his side could not chase down.

“We didn’t get it right in the chases that we didn’t play well in [but] I truly believe we can chase down anything. It’s not a problem,” he added. “We’ve done it in the last year a few times under pressure. We didn’t get it right in the last couple of chases, and that’s all right. Still confident in the batting unit.

“I believe there are a few guys due for big runs, and it’s going to happen soon, at the right time.”

South Africa have looked strongest when batting first, amassing 400-plus against the West Indies and Ireland, but faltered when chasing against India and Pakistan.

He was also cagey when asked whether the UAE presented a chance to give match time to members of the extended squad such as Wayne Parnell and Aaron Phangiso.

“It’s a difficult one, you don’t want to mess around too much with your best possible 11, keeping in mind that all 15 need to play somewhere along the line in the World Cup,” he said.

Teams (from):

SOUTH AFRICA: Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, A.B. de Villiers (captain), Rilee Rossouw, David Miller, J.P. Duminy, Kyle Abbott, Farhaan Behardien, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Mohammad Tauqir (captain), Khurram Khan, Swapnil Patil, Saqlain Haider, Amjad Javed, Shaiman Anwar, Amjad Ali, Nasir Aziz, Rohan Mustafa, Manjula Guruge, Andri Berenger, Fahad Al Hashmi, Mohammad Naveed, Kamran Shahzad, Krishna Chandran.

Umpires: Rod Tucker and Steve Davis (both Australia).

TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford (Australia).

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play