Proteas travel as outsiders

Cape Town - Given their more traditional penchant for going to major ICC tournaments as a highly-rated team likely to melt when the heat is turned up at a pretty advanced stage, perhaps the current cloud of uncertainty over the South African cause makes for a welcome change?

That is the most optimistic spin you can muster as the Proteas set off this weekend for the World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh.

One thing is fairly certain: they travel knowing that they aren’t on the “podium” when it comes to bookies’ forecasts for the event – Australia, who have just seen off the very South Africans 2-0 in their own backyard, and Subcontinent forces India and Sri Lanka appear the trio of most popular picks for the silverware.