The group stages will be played from 21 – 23 July in Oxford at Wormsley Cricket Ground and Aston Rowant Cricket Club. These groups will only be finalized at the draw on 20 July at Wormsley Cricket Ground. The semi-finals and final will take place at The Kia Oval in London on Saturday 26 July.

Last night at the leaving function that was held for the team Assupol CEO, Rudi Schmidt; UP Executive Director, Prof Antonie de Klerk; TuksCricket Chairman, Sollie Barnard and Red Bull Representative, Martin van Staden wished the team well for the tournament that is lying ahead.

TuksCricket Head Coach, Pierre de Bruyn, had the following to say about the team’s preparation for the tournament:
 

“ON THE TRAINING

After beating Maties we had to reset our goals. We had a six-week build-up period leading up to the South African finals but after that we had to refocus. We are going to London to win this thing. The preparation has gone brilliantly – we’ve had a six to seven week preparation period and we’ve built it into certain phases to make sure that as a squad  we cover absolutely everything.

We finished our training on Monday with a match against South Africa A and we convincingly beat them, So I’m over the moon with our preparation and where the guys are with their skills. We’re ready now to get on the plane and to go and dominate.
 

ON THE MENTAL ASPECT

We train situations. We train specific pressure circumstances that can happen during a game. We discuss it as well. So from a mental point of view we believe that pressure is good for us, we thrive on that and we want those situations. We understand that we play sport and that there will be pressure and we don’t run away from that. We want to perform under pressure, that’s what makes a good sportsman. We have massive belief and each player has accountability for his individual performance.

ON CONFIDENCE

This beat SA A was a massive win for us. In fact we beat them past Thursday as well in a T20 game. We set our goals to be competitive against them and at the end of the day we beat them two-out-of-two and it does give us a lot of confidence. We wanted to go to London with some confidence and we’re carrying that now, for sure.

ON THE THREATS

I don’t know too much about the opposition. It’s the first time that a South African team is competing in this event. But what I’ve seen on video footage is that it is very competitive. Obviously India will be very strong because they’re the defending champions. You can just sense that the standard will be really high because ultimately you’re playing in a World Cup. So yes, we are going in a bit blind but we’ve prepared so well that we’re ready for everything that comes at us. We’ll probably face a lot of spin bowlers with three or four subcontinent teams there, but we’re ready for that.

 

ON THE CONDITIONS
I played ten years of professional cricket in England so I know the conditions quite well. You know in one day you can get six seasons. It can rain and then the next moment the sun is out. We know the conditions will be different from what we are used to, but we have trained on surfaces like that in the last few weeks to make sure that we are well prepared. If there are any kind of overhead conditions (cloud cover and so on) it will be very conducive to fast bowling and that will suit us.

 

ON WHO TO WATCH
I’ve got a very well balanced squad. There are a couple of Titans players in Theunis de Bruynand Vincent Moore and a couple of SA under 19 boys – Aiden Markram and Corbin Bosch. But you know I can’t really single anyone out, there’s a good mix of experienced players and youngsters. I believe that every one of the thirteen players I’m taking over can play a massive role.