Trott says Afghanistan have 'no scarring' ahead of T20 World Cup semi
Jonathan Trott believes Afghanistan will go into Wednesday's T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa boosted by «having no scarring, no history» unlike the accident-prone Proteas.
Afghanistan will be playing in the last-four of any World Cup for the first time.
South Africa are still without a major global title with just the 1998 Champions Trophy to show for all their endeavours.
They have also been accused of «choking» on big occasions.
Losing to Australia in the 1999 World Cup semi-finals after a farcical run-out and a blunder in reading the rain rules against Sri Lanka on home turf in 2003 are famously among their catalogue of horrors.
«We go into the semi-final with no scarring or no history with regards to semi-finals. This is uncharted territory for us,» said Trott, the former Ashes-winning England batsman who was born and raised in South Africa.
«We're just going to go out there and give it our all. There's no preconceived ideas on it all, or history of failure or success in semi-finals in past years.
»For us it's a new challenge and I think that makes us dangerous in the semi-finals as a side with nothing to lose and obviously a lot of pressure on the opposition."
South Africa have defeated Afghanistan in their only two other T20 meetings — by 59 runs at Barbados in the 2010 T20 World Cup and 37 runs in Mumbai six years later.
The Proteas have won all seven matches they have played at this World Cup but have teetered on the edge of embarrassment more than once.
In the first round, they
