JOHANNESBURG, Feb 28: South African skipper Graeme Smith said up to six teams were in with a shout at the World Cup as he tried to dampen expectations about the new world No 1’s chances of glory on Wednesday.

As he prepared to fly out to the Caribbean from Johannesburg with the 15-man Proteas squad, Smith said the players had managed to put previous World Cup disappointments behind them and confidence was high after toppling Australia recently from the perch of the one-day rankings.

But he said the top-ranking did not mean that they should automatically be seen as favourites for the tournament.

“We got the number one ranking over a period of time, whereas the World Cup is an event, and anything can happen,” he told reporters.

“There are about six countries that could either win it, or prevent us winning it.”

South Africa have had a miserable time at previous World Cups. As the host nation in 2003, they were embarrassingly knocked out before the business end of the competition after a mix-up over their target rate in a rain-affected match.

They also lost out to Australia in 1999 after Herschelle Gibbs famously failed to hang on to a catch off Steve Waugh.

Australia and South Africa have been drawn together in the group stage of the tournament and will meet at St Kitts on March 24 in the most eagerly awaited of the first round games.—AFP