South Africa’s all-time Cricket World Cup XI

An exile from world cricket from 1970 to 1991 meant that South Africa made their Cricket World Cup debut only in the 1992 edition, and this meant that a generation of talented players missed out on an opportunity to play in the pinnacle event of the sport.However, ever since returning to the cricketing fold, the South African team has almost always been one of the better sides in the World Cup. We look at a playing XI of South African cricketers based on their performances in the World Cups – a team which, if they played together at their peak, could (at least on paper) better the best performance of the Proteas and go on to lift the elusive trophy for the nation.As would be expected from a South African side, the team has plenty of all-rounders, depth in batting and many bowling options. Only those players who have played at least 10 World Cup matches for South Africa have been considered. Given the versatility of most players, the batting order may change as per the situation of a game.

#1 Andrew Hudson

WC Matches: 12

Runs: 571

Batting Avg: 47.58

For his solid and reliable batting as an opener in the 1992 and 1996 editions of the World Cup where he scored one century and four fifties, Andrew Hudson merits selection for one of the opening slots in the team.

The highlight of his World Cup career was the attacking 161 he scored against minnows Netherlands at Rawalpindi in 1996, and Hudson often provided a stable start alongside Kepler Wessels in 1992 and Gary Kirsten in 1996 to lay down a solid foundation for the middle-order to consolidate on.