Though they are expected to sweep aside their unfancied opposition, Proteas captain Aiden Markram insists the national team are not taking Canada lightly in their opening fixture of the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad on Monday (3.30pm start).
South Africa have never faced Canada in a T20 match, and the two nations have not met in a cricket game since the Proteas beat the Canadians by 118 runs in an ODI World Cup contest in East London in 2003.
“We’re not 100% sure what to expect, so that poses a new challenge,” Markram said on Sunday.
“I think when you play teams consistently you have a pretty good idea of how they approach the game, their plans, and the players and their abilities.
“So we don’t want to put too much emphasis on that. We would rather focus on our skills and plans, and executing well, and we feel if we’re able to do that we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”
Avoiding an upset
Canada are playing in their second T20 World Cup, after making their debut in the United States two years ago where they picked up a win against Ireland but failed to progress beyond the group stages.
At that tournament, the Proteas reached a World Cup final for the first time, winning eight games on the trot before falling to India in the trophy battle.
However, while South Africa will turn out as the firm favourites today, Markram said they were wary of their opponents, particularly in the unpredictable T20 format.
Ranked 14 places below SA in the global T20 rankings, Canada are an associate cricket nation (without full international status) but Markram felt they could still be dangerous if they hit their straps and the Proteas were not at their best.
At the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, South Africa were nearly stunned by lowly-ranked Nepal in a first-round match, holding on to win by one run in a last-ball thriller, and the SA side were eager to avoid a similar situation in an attempt to open this year’s showpiece in winning fashion.
“If you look at the games that have already happened (at the World Cup which started over the weekend), and upsets in previous World Cups that have happened, the gap between the associate nations and the other countries has become a lot smaller,” Markram said.
“In this format specifically I think it takes one or two guys to have a really good day and an upset can happen, and the associate teams have been playing really well.
“We’ve already seen it at the start of this World Cup. There have been some close ones, and games could have swung either way.”
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