South Africa Cricket World Cup 2015 profile: Perennial favourites will look to shed 'chokers' tag

Coach: Russell Domingo

ICC World Ranking: 3

Squad: Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (WK), AB de Villiers (C&WK), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir.

Fixtures: Zimbabwe (15 February), India (22 February), West Indies (27 February), Ireland (3 March), Pakistan (7 March), UAE (12 March).

Overview: South Africa are clearly one of the favourites heading into the tournament, with in-form players AB De Villiers and Hashim Amla in their ranks. But they had a very inauspicious start to their World Cup campaign when they lost to New Zealand in their opening warm-up match by 134 runs.

However, with experienced players in the squad, both in the bowling and batting departments they will be seen as one of the favourites to challenge the mighty Australians in their own backyard. They are coming into the tournament on the back of a convincing win over West Indies in the ODI series and will look to carry on that momentum into the tournament.

Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla will be two players, who will be key for South Africa, as the team will look at Steyn to give them the early breakthroughs in big games and Amla to hold the innings together with the bat.

AB De Villiers: The South Africa captain is clearly the most important player in the squad, his form will be key for the team's success at the 2015 tournament. De Villiers has been in majestic form in recent months and only recently broke the record for fastest 100 against the West Indies. He is the number one ranked ODI batsmen in the world and the South Africans will be dependent on him to lead them to their first World Cup.

World Cup history: South Africa's first appearance in the World Cup was in 1992. Since they were not members of ICC prior to this they were ineligible to participate in the previous tournaments. They have a good record in the tournament, apart from 2003, when they made it to the quarter-finals. However, they have never made it to the finals, but have got close a number of times only to falter at the last hurdle. They have been labeled with the 'chokers' tag and they will be keen to banish it during this year's tournament in New Zealand and Australia.

Prediction: South Africa come into the tournament as one of the favourites along with hosts Australia and defending champions India. They will be keen to go all the way and banish any doubts regarding their ability to perform in big matches under pressure. A semi-final birth is a must for AB De Villiers' side.