ICC World Cup 2019 | One can’t control history, says Faf du Plessis
BCCI
Faf du Plessis has stated that one cannot control history, referring to South Africa’s failure to win a World Cup since 1992 despite reaching the semi-finals thrice. In the previous edition of the marquee event, Proteas lost a tight semi-final against New Zealand due to Grant Elliott’s fine show.
South Africa’s fate has been poor when it comes to World Cup despite being tagged as favourites for most of the editions. The team entered as underdogs in the 1992 World Cup and stunned everyone by reaching the semi-finals but lost due to a controversial rain rule. In 1999, they were knocked out despite levelling the scores with Australia in the semi-finals. In 2015, New Zealand’s Grant Elliott put a one-man show to snatch the game away from the Proteas. The South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis reckoned that history cannot be controlled.
“You can’t control history – I am a firm believer in that. All you can try and focus on is what is ahead, if you are good enough on the day then great, but if the opposition is better on the day then that’s OK," he said at the pre-tournament captains' press conference on Thursday, reported Cricketnext.
The African nation possess a lot of experience as their squad features the likes of Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, David Miller, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir and the skipper himself. They will still rely on the young players like Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi among others to take them the distance. Du Plessis feels that the tournament gives exciting opportunities to the youngsters while implying the respect he has for his oppositions teams.
"The squad that we have here compared to previous tournaments are a lot younger and with those new faces come exciting opportunities. We have some players who are experienced but there is no guarantee that South Africa will come and win. There are ten high-quality teams,” he expressed.
The pitches in England are expected to be flat and the series between the hosts and Pakistan further reinstated that. The skipper felt that the bowlers will play a major role in the tournament.
“Using the resources of wicket-takers is important as captain, it is a pivotal role in making your team is successful. I think bowlers will win this tournament,” he explained.
England are regarded as one among the favourites to win this edition of the quadrennial event. They possess explosive batsmen and all-rounders who have also delivered consistent performances. Test regular Stuart Broad had even gone on to say that no former English batsman would make a cut for the top seven in the current side and even skipper Eoin Morgan agreed.
“I totally agree that no former England batsman would get into our current top seven,” he said.
England will face Australia and Afghanistan in two warm-up games on Saturday and Monday and then play South Africa in the opener on May 30. The skipper revealed that the side is raring to go and are hopeful of bringing the cup to the home of cricket for the first time ever.
“No-one is head and shoulders above anyone else and there are the ten best teams in the world here but we are confident. We’re as best prepared as we can be. We want the first game to be tomorrow and get into the tournament now. We’re itching to go. It would be extremely cool if we could reach the final. Every captain would lose a left leg to do it. I grew up dreaming of playing Test cricket or scoring the winning runs in a World Cup. I never dreamt of this because it was too wild. Now, we’re all desperate to get out there,” the middle order batsman reckoned.
The Barbados born bowler Jofra Archer became eligible to play for England only recently and even featured in the Pakistan series after making his debut against Ireland. He has a fine record in T20 leagues around the world and also for Sussex in county cricket. Despite not being a part of the preliminary squad, the death over specialist made the cut for the showpiece event. The southpaw was delighted to have him in the squad.
“I’m not surprised about Jofra’s emergence in the last 12 months. He has performed with us as he has around the world for the last year or more. He is impressive in all three parts of the match. He opens, bowls well in the middle and then can come back at the death,” said the 32-year-old.
“There is no doubt this is a huge opportunity for him. He is young, ambitious and confident. He wants to play international cricket for England and it’s exciting. I think he could have a long future ahead of him. The fact that his first big series is the World Cup is just exciting for him – it’s an opportunity. He won’t be overcome by it and we expect him to have a big summer,” Morgan signed off.
