"Not sure if South Africa will get out of the group stages"- Lance Klusener on the Proteas ahead of 2023 World Cup
Former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener feels it will be difficult for the Proteas to make it to the semifinals of the 2023 World Cup set to begin on Thursday, October 5.
He feels one of the biggest challenges that South Africa could face is their batters putting up competitive and mammoth totals consistently. Here's what Lance Klusener was quoted by CricBlog as telling Online Cricket Betting about South Africa's World Cup chances:
“I’m not sure if South Africa will get out of the group stages. I think if they get to the semi finals, they will have needed to have consistently scored enough runs in the competition. That is the challenge for them. I’m not too sure they’ll reach the semi finals."
Klusener believes Heinrich Klaasen will need to play a massive role if South Africa go deep into the tournament. He added:
"How do you stop him [Heinrich Klaasen]? I think he’s one of those batsmen that needs to fire for South Africa to get out of those group stages. Like Ben Stokes, he’s vulnerable early. If there’s some decent fast bowling at him early on, there’s always an opportunity and it always gives you an opportunity during the course of his innings."
Maybe South Africa will surprise us all: Lance Klusener
While Lance Klusener practically thinks that the Proteas don't have a huge chance of winning the World Cup, somewhere he still hopes for a miracle. The South African side over the years has been one of the contenders to win the tournament, but just haven't quite crossed the knockout hurdles.
On this, Klusener stated:
“South Africa seem to never get over the line in big competitions due to bad luck, or down to rain, or bad running or whatever reason, but I’m sure at some point they will. Maybe this year when no one really, certainly not me, is giving them much of a chance, maybe they’ll surprise us all, which would be fantastic!”
Klusener was in the middle during South Africa's heartbreaking tie against Australia in the 1999 World Cup semifinal, which saw them bow out of the tournament.