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Southampton - Proteas batting coach Dale Benkenstein has acknowledges that the side's batsmen have shown signs of nerves at the World Cup in England.
The Proteas are yet to register a win at the tournament, losing their first three fixtures before Monday's 'no-result' against the West Indies got them their first log point.
There have been glimpses of positivity with both bat and ball, but the South Africans have not been near stringing together a complete performance yet.
It has severely hurt their chances of progressing to the semi-finals, and they must now surely win their remaining matches to do so.
All of the top order batsmen in the South African side, with the exception of Hashim Amla, have made starts at different times but none have stood up to play the type of match-winning innings that they need.
There have been just three half-centuries from the Proteas so far, with Quinton de Kock's 68 against England in the tournament opener still their best individual return with the bat.
Benkenstein, who was a part of the 1999 World Cup squad without playing a game, addressed media on Monday after the Windies wash-out.
In a revealing chat with South African media, he opened up on the struggles his players were facing in England.
Benkenstein believes that his batters are in good form, but that they have felt the mental demands that come with playing in a World Cup.
"Confidence as batters is huge in a World Cup. They do feel the extra pressure," he said.
"Our history doesn't help … and we're trying to deal with it. The guys have been a bit nervous and I think that has shown.
"At the moment everything is pretty simple. We have to go and win every game and it's not a bad position to be in. Mentally, we know what we have to and now we have to go and do it."
Benkenstein also challenged the batsmen to show a hunger to kick on once they have gotten themselves in.
"The batters have to step up, and we haven't at the moment. I feel like they've batted well, but they haven't batted long enough," he said.
"Everyone has got in and we've had opportunities to gets 100s and 100 partnerships to win games, but we've just got out.
"To me, it's just a mental thing. It's a hunger.
"When you're out in the middle and get to 30 or 40, then you think you're in.
"When you're in and dominating, you have to try and really make the most of it and I think sometimes we don't get that balance right. We often try and accelerate a bit fast rather than getting our heads down and keeping it ticking over for a bit longer with the batters getting us more to the end of the game."
Echoing skipper Faf du Plessis' sentiments, Benkenstein believes that the Proteas are close to clicking, particularly with the bat.
"Speaking to them individually, I think they are all feeling really good and they know it is just around the corner," he said.
The Proteas are next in action when they take on Afghanistan in Cardiff on Saturday.
@LloydBurnard is in England covering the 2019 Cricket World Cup for Sport24 ...
