The Proteas are fresh and ready of their ICC Cricket World Cup campaign that gets underway on Saturday in Delhi.

On Tuesday, New Zealand beat the Proteas by 7-runs according to the DLS method in a World Cup warm-up at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Black Caps had a bat first and scored 321/6 in their 50 overs with Tom Latham scoring 52-runs while Glenn Phillips scored 43.

Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen each bagged three wickets for the Proteas.

The Proteas were on 211/4 after 37-overs when the heavens opened and brought a close to play.

Quinton de Kock scored patient 84 not out, while Rassie van der Dussen contributed with 51.

While South Africa lost the game, they were heading to a victory and they will take the positives from the valuable time in the middle.

Van der Dussen said after the five-match ODI series against Australia in South Africa it’s also important to go into the World Cup feeling fresh.

“We expected the rain to come a lot earlier today, so we’re happy with the time that we got in the middle, that’s why we decided to bowl first, to give the bowlers good spells,” said Van der Dussen.

“It is what it is - it’s not too bad. You want to go into the tournament feeling quite fresh.

“It was tough with the new ball. We knew in that first ten overs, we needed to not just see it out but still have scoring options.

“Our blueprint stays the same, if we bat well, we give our guys coming in the middle a good chance to come in, especially playing against spin. We saw Klaasen again, some of the shots that he plays are ridiculous to spin bowlers.

“From the top-order point of view, watch that new ball and give guys in the middle time to shine.”

On Saturday the Proteas will face Sri Lanka in Delhi in their opening game of the Cricket World Cup. This game is scheduled to start at 10:30. New Zealand in their turn will face the defending champions, England, on Thursday in the opening game that will be played in Ahmedabad.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport