Eduan Roos

Dubai – After a nail-biting series against Pakistan, the South African ODI team can now tick almost all the boxes on the World Cup list.

All except one, says Jacques Kallis. This versatile tough guy was named the man of the match in the deciding game on Monday night after his innings of 83 runs and 3 wickets gave the Proteas’ a 3-2 series victory.

This was the team's second last chance to get ready for the World Cup tournament, beginning in February on the sub-continent.

"It will be my fourth and possibly my last World Cup, and in the past we have not always have luck on our side, or achieved the success we should have," said Kallis.

In five previous attempts, the Proteas have never got further than the semi-finals – which they reached in 1999 in England and in 2007 in the West Indies.

"The current team has something very special though and I have a good feeling about the tournament. We have made huge progress in this series and if we can continue improving as we have done, there is no reason why we can't be successful."

One area in which the team could possibly improve, is to worry less and to enjoy the game more, says Kallis.

"Although our bowling is better now than it was, we still aren't where we want to be. I believe most of the hard work has already been done and we can look forward with confidence to the World Cup.”

“The World Cup is a strange tournament, but if we don't put too much pressure on ourselves and just enjoy it, it may just be our turn."

On Monday night, Kallis became the sixth player to score 11 000 limited over runs. Along with Sachin Tendulkar (India) and Australian captain, Ricky Ponting, he is only the third man to reach the achievement in Tests as well.

"I was not aware of this milestone until my team-mates congratulated me. It is a nice feeling, but after 15 years of international cricket I guess I had to score a few runs," jokes Kallis.

"It is much more important to keep playing well and to help develop the youngsters in the team. Hopefully I will look back one day and say I had a successful career."