Tarouba, Trinidad and Tobago: South Africa coach Rob Walter believes his team will not be haunted by its embarrassing legacy of big-match stagefright when they take on Afghanistan for a place in the T20 World Cup final. Despite the Proteas' deep resources of talent, the country has only won one international title -- the Champions Trophy back in 1998. In World Cup knockout games, they have won just one in 10 and have never made a final, be it in the 50-over or T20 format.
"The near misses in the past, they belong to the people who missed them," insisted Walter. "This team is a different team. We own whatever is ours to own.
And so, our nearest reflection point is this tournament where we've managed to get over the line. So that's what we think about." South Africa have won all of their seven matches at this World Cup but have consistently struggled to get over the line.
In the first round, they defeated the Netherlands by four wickets only after being 12-4 at one stage and chasing just 104 to win. A four-run win over Bangladesh followed before they avoided what would have been a seismic shock in a one-run victory over Nepal. In the Super Eights, they squeezed past defending champions England by just seven runs.
"It's always great to dream and I think everyone in South Africa dreams of the time when a trophy gets lifted," added Walter. "No doubt that will happen. Whether it's going to be this week, that remains to be seen.
We're just going to try and play the best game of cric.
