Former spinner Robin Peterson is hopeful experience gained during the 2022 T20 World Cup will help the Proteas during the 2023 World Cup.
South Africa failed to advance beyond the group stage of last year’s T20 World Cup – and recently gained direct qualification to the this year’s World Cup.
“They’ve all experienced the World Cup because they’ve been to the T20 World Cup, so they know what to expect,” Peterson, who is currently the Warriors head coach in the first division of South African domestic cricket, was quoted as saying by IOL.
“It’s not like the 50-over World Cup is that different. Yes, the formats are different but everything else is the same. The intensity, the media, all the big teams will be there, and all the big players will be there. But everybody in this group of players has gotten a taste for it. There is enough World Cup experience.”
The Proteas remain without a World Cup title. They have lost four semi-finals, two quarter-finals since debuting at the tournament in 1992.
“The past is the past, you always go to the next one with optimism,” added Peterson, who was in the 2011 World Cup squad.
“I know it’s heart breaking for the public. It was in 2019 that I am not sure whether we were at our best. I think as a group, a lot of guys were probably at the back end of their careers and their best performances were past them. Besides all that, just generally speaking, we’ve played well in World Cups, we just haven’t won it.”