HAMILTON: South Africa skipper AB de Villiers promised his team will take Zimbabwe seriously in their opening World Cup match in Hamilton on Sunday, declaring his players are keen to make history and ditch their tag as chokers.

Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura is optimistic his team can carry the good form they showed during the warm-up matches.

The 28-year-old said good showings in the rained-off first warm-up game against New Zealand -- where they reduced the co-hosts to 157 for seven -- and then a shock seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka had bolstered Zimbabwe’s morale.

“It (the warm-up performances) gives us a lot of confidence,” said Chigumbura on Saturday. “It gives us a lot of the belief that we do need as a team, that it’s possible to beat a big team, and obvious, looking at the guys who performed, our main batters, which is a good sign.”

South Africa are top contenders this time after failing to go beyond the semi-final stages in all six World Cups they have featured since their readmission to international cricket in 1991.

But their recent good form makes them one of the favourites for the title and, despite admitting his team is amongst the best, De Villiers wants to focus on a dangerous Zimbabwe.

“We know of Zimbabwe’s capability, it’s not long ago they beat Australia,” said De Villiers of their opponents who defeated Australia on their home turf in August last year.

“They are a dangerous side and have come a long way. They are under a good coach (Dav Whatmore) so we know we will have to take them seriously and it’s a big start for both teams.”

“Zimbabwe’s two key batsmen were both in the runs against Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and losing finalists at the last two World Cups, with Hamilton Masakadza hitting a brilliant unbeaten hundred and Brendon Taylor making 63.

“We’re looking forward to the main games now, and hopefully the guys who performed well will carry on with their form and hopefully finish on the better side tomorrow,” Chigumbura added.

Chigumbura, who is in his second stint as one-day captain, revealed that Whatmore had wrought a significant change in the team’s outlook.

“He’s an experienced coach,” said Chigumbura of the former Australian batsman who guided Sri Lanka to World Cup glory in 1996 and then took Bangladesh to an upset win over India for a place in the Super Eights at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.

“Guys are more comfortable dealing with him. He’s bringing lots of experience and different tactics and looking at the games that we played, the two games that we played, you can tell that we’re heading in the right direction.”

De Villiers admitted his team was keen to shrug off the “chokers” tag associated with them since their tied semi-final against Australia in the 1999 World Cup in England.

They also flopped in the group stages of the 2003 World Cup held at home and then fell in the semi-final of the 2007 event in the West Indies.

They then lost in the quarter-finals in 2011 held in the sub-continent despite being title favourites.

“It is a fresh tournament for all of us, the ‘chokers’ is very much part of our system, there’s no doubt about it and we have to take that away. It’s a great opportunity and the guys are here to make history.”

Published in Dawn February 15th , 2015

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