West Indies will crumble under pressure: AB de Villiers

AB de Villiers is confident South Africa will bounce back from the loss

South Africa face a revitalized West Indies at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday and South African skipper AB de Villiers is confident that West Indies will crumble if South Africa apply the right pressure in their crucial Group B encounter. The Proteas were outplayed by the defending champions, India, in their last match and this leaves the team with just two points after two games and trailing India, West Indies and Ireland in Group B.

While the South Africans mastered the West Indies side 4-1 in a home series last month, they now confront a team with full of confidence after their 73-run win over Zimbabwe.

“They’re a dangerous cricket team. I believe if you put enough pressure on them like any other cricket team they can crumble,” de Villiers told reporters at the SCG on Thursday.

“We haven’t played well in the last game so we’ve got to make sure we look after our side. They do have weaknesses in the team and it’s important to push those buttons, especially in the pressure situations.” he said.

South Africa’s confidence took a ‘bit of slap’: de Villiers

De Villiers says the Proteas’ confidence took a “bit of a slap” in their 130-run mauling by India last Sunday, but they were ready to bounce back against the West Indies.

“Nothing’s changed with our approach except our confidence might have taken a bit of a slap in the last game which is maybe not a bad thing,” he said. “It’s maybe a good thing for us to make sure we keep our feet on the ground. We’ve got nowhere to go now. It’s only upwards otherwise we’re going to stumble out of this tournament.”

We only have one extra consultant and lack a psychologist: de Villiers

De Villiers mentioned that the Proteas were traditionally too tense in big tournaments and carried a bloated support staff.

“We are in a very good place. It’s very easy to say a lot of things about our team after our previous performance,” he said. “Look, I’m also disappointed about what happened there. We only have got the one extra consultant in Michael Hussey. Gary Kirsten has been around the team for a long time as have all the other guys.

“We don’t have a psychologist that we normally have in the World Cups.”

“I really believe the team is in a good space, we have got the right amount of management here. Every single person knows his role, we didn’t do those roles well in the last game and we are hoping to do it better tomorrow.”

“It’s a big game for us and it’s a must win for us in Sydney,” de Villiers said. “We’ll come with a bit of energy again. The way I know this team, we always bounce back. We’ve got a never-say-die attitude, and this tournament is by a long way not over for us.”