Proteas legend Jacques Kallis has backed the Proteas to recover strongly after the England defeat.

The Proteas suffered a humbling defeat in their World Cup opener against England. But with eight games still to play, Kallis believes that the Proteas shouldn’t be disheartened by the result.

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He gave them some words of encouragement in his latest column for the ICC.

‘It was never going to be easy playing England in the very first game but I’ve seen nothing to change my mind that South Africa can go deep in this tournament,’ he said.

‘They will be hard on themselves when they look back on the game, there were too many soft dismissals for my liking, but there was nothing wrong with their performance that cannot be rectified.’

The format of this year’s World Cup has changed from the one in 2015. All 10 teams play each other and the top four make the semi-final to see who will meet each other at Lord’s for the final on 14 July.

‘This format allows you to make a slower start, it’s a long tournament and playing everyone evens things out in the end,’ he continued.

‘Having three games in six days has pros and cons – with the Dale Steyn injury they’d have probably wanted a bit more space between them.

‘But it also gives them the chance to establish some early momentum. When you’ve lost, you want to get straight back out there as soon as possible and it’s great they’ve got Bangladesh on Sunday.

‘Get a win there, and they will rightly go in as big favourites, and they will go into the match with India with their confidence up and then they’ve got a good few days to recover.’

Kallis played in five World Cups for the Proteas (1996-2011). He racked up 1,148 at an average of 45.92. He also took 21 at an economy rate of 4.28.

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