LONDON: South Africa captain Faf du Plessis tried to ease the pressure on his team on the eve of the World Cup by insisting they did not have to play like “Superman” to enjoy success at the tournament.

The Proteas will launch the World Cup against hosts and favourites England at The Oval on Thursday as they begin their latest bid to put decades of disappointment at the event behind them.

South Africa have won only one of seven World Cup knockout matches, against Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals in 2015, since making their tournament debut in 1992.

That includes an agonising semi-final loss to New Zealand four years ago — when Johannesburg-born Grant Elliott hit a winning six for the Black Caps off fast bowler Dale Steyn.

But this time a South Africa side without retired stars Jacques Kallis, A.B. de Villiers and Graeme Smith, have gone under the radar.

“Whether we come into this tournament as favourites or as underdogs, you still have to go out on the park and play cricket and perform to win a World Cup,” Du Plessis told reporters at The Oval on Wednesday.

“Learning from myself that I can speak of in the past, you perhaps feel like you have to do more. You know, you have to be a Superman on the day. You’re trying to win a World Cup. For me, that’s not what we need to do.

“We are a good cricket team. Our results has proven that. We need to stay present in the fact that what we have got on our team is good enough to beat any team on the day and trust that, not go away thinking ‘today I need to be the man that scores 180 off 60 balls’ because that doesn’t give us results.

“If we can be just nice and calm and positive — and even if we make mistakes, to make sure that we completely forget about that mistake and come back into the present and focus on what’s ahead.”

Du Plessis, who has become a father since the last World Cup, added: “Cricket is a very important aspect of all of our lives, but it’s not everything — there’s a lot more bigger things than winning and losing games of cricket.

“And that, perhaps, has changed for me. The fact that I’m no longer desperate. I want to win cricket games but I don’t need to win them.”

South Africa will be without Steyn for Thursday’s match after the veteran quick was ruled out with a shoulder injury sustained playing in the Indian Premier League.

“It’s a big loss to our team,” said Du Plessis. “We did expect it when we picked the squad, Dale was about 60 percent when the squad was picked so it was anticipated. A fit Dale Steyn makes our bowling attack a very strong one.

“Steyn, [Kagiso] Rabada and [Lungi] Ngidi are a real threat in English conditions, that’s plan A in the World Cup. So now it’s just a reshuffle, looking to plan B and C.”

Meanwhile, England captain Eoin Morgan says winning a home World Cup could do wonders for cricket in the sport’s birthplace as he prepares to lead his team in their tournament opener against South Africa.

England are top of the ODI rankings and favourites to lift a trophy they have never yet won in its 44-year-history -- a far cry from their woeful first-round exit at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Television coverage of cricket in Britain has been largely hidden behind a paywall since England won the 2005 Ashes but Morgan believes a World Cup win would break through to a new audience.

“It would mean a huge amount. The World Cup alone raises the profile of the game and is a platform for every young kid in this country to have a hero or have the inspiration to pick up a ball or a bat,” Morgan told reporters at The Oval on Wednesday.

“To go on and win it, I couldn’t imagine what that would do,” the former Ireland batsman added.

‘BRILLIANT’ SOUTHGATE

The England cricket squad and backroom staff have spent time with England football manager Gareth Southgate, whose side revitalised interest and affection in the national team on their way to the semi-finals of last year’s soccer World Cup in Russia.

“We did do a session with Gareth, it was brilliant,” recalled Morgan. “He got up and talked about his journey with the team in and around the World Cup, but in the build-up, as well, and how they built bigger expectations and came together more as a group.

“I think everybody within the room listening who has been involved with our team over the last four years recognised that — we started exactly where they did. Recognised what had happened in the past, drawn a line under it, tried to do things differently and move forward and enjoyed the challenge of that.”

But the expectations surrounding England’s men’s football and cricket teams are wide apart, with Morgan saying his side had received a very different reaction when they were beaten by Pakistan in the 2017 semi-final of the one-day Champions Trophy in Cardiff.

“It’s amazing. He [Southgate] did brilliantly. Got to the semi-final and everybody says it’s great. We got knocked out of the Champions Trophy semi-final, and we’re crap,” added Morgan.

England may have suffered several injury scares in recent weeks, including his own dislocated finger, but Morgan said all of his 15-man squad were available to face the Proteas.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2019