South Africa head to a World Cup with a purr, not a prayer

South Africa and World Cups have had a difficult relationship. So it's best not to get into predictions. Nonetheless, an unusual feeling has permeated the game in the country. Maybe because South Africa reached the final of the last T20 World Cup. Maybe because the focus is squarely on winning the 2027 World Cup.

Whatever it is, South Africa are on their way to India under no pressure from the outside. Their cricket-minded compatriots appear to have made peace with the likelihood that they won't come home with the trophy. Much the same feeling prevailed when they went to Lord's last June to play Australia in the WTC final.

Here they go again, not so much on a wing and a prayer as on a wing and a purr.

David Miller and Lungi Ngidi have sailed through groin and knee issues. Quinton de Kock looks like he's never enjoyed playing cricket as much as he does now. Dewald Brevis is growing into the player he has the potential to become. Kagiso Rabada is bowling as well as ever.

They beat the West Indies convincingly in Paarl and Centurion to seal the series, and fell short by six runs in a 10-over shootout at the Wanderers. Had Miller been fit they might well have won that, too.

Aiden Markram was on course for a century in the first match but ran out of available target. That didn't happen to de Kock in Centurion, when he almost languidly launched 115 off 49 using a bat he had to borrow from Brevis after forgetting his own. Brevis had a lowkey series, but his 56-ball 101 in the SA20 final will shimmer in the memory.

That Keshav Maharaj was the leading wicket-taker in the West Indies series is no bad thing for a side heading to Asia. Neither that George Linde was the only bowler in the rubber to go for less than a run a ball.

Markram needs to be behind a firmly shut dressing room door before he leaps into inspirational mode. Doubtless that will happen at the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday. It's only a warm-up game, but there is nothing "only" about any match against India.

"We can take quite a bit of confidence [out of the West Indies series]," Markram said. "Throughout the SA20 as well the guys put their hands up for their teams and won games, which is what you need at a World Cup."

Shouldn't you be excited already, skipper?

"Yes, it is a World Cup but you don't want to blow it out of proportion. You've got a job to do, and if you can get yourself into a frame of mind to do that job well I think we give ourselves a good chance."

Markram is a regular part-time off-spinner. But just 27 deliveries of Tristan Stubbs' offies have been seen in more than a year. Brevis has sent down 29.2 overs of leg spin in the past dozen months. It will be interesting to see them cope with bowling at this level if the need arises.

Then there's Jason Smith, who like Markram and Rabada was part of the squad that won the 2014 under-19 World Cup. Unlike them, Smith has appeared in only three ODIs and five T20Is. But he has developed into a player who can make a game lurch forward dramatically. Like he did when he took guard with South Africa 63/4 after six overs needing 62 off 24. Smith hammered 26 off 10.

"That's the role you give to a guy like that," Markram said. "He's going to walk in late in the innings, when it's not easy to hit balls out of the park. But he's got that ability and that potential, and that's exactly why he's in our squad. He kept the game alive for us and nearly got us over the line."

Getting over the line when it matters is something South Africa struggled to do before that shining day at Lord's in June. Maybe that's really why this feels different. And maybe that's why it might indeed be different this time.