South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has urged his teammates to avoid doing "Superman things" and instead focus on overcoming the "fear of failure" ahead of the World Cup.
South Africa have a reputation of losing big matches which has earned them the label of chokers. The Proteas are yet to reach the finals of the World Cup having been knocked out at the semifinal stage four times in the past.
"In previous World Cups, we wanted to do Superman things. We thought we had to be more special, we had to do something more than we usually do, and we did not do what was good enough before," Du Plessis was quoted as saying by the ICC .
"We haven't always got that right in the past, to play our best cricket at the World Cup, because we put so much pressure on ourselves. We want to just focus on enjoying our cricket," he added.
Du Plessis, who will be competing in his third ODI World Cup, stressed on the need to be mentally prepared for the tournament which will be imperative for the team's success in England.
"There's a reason why we want the guys to play freely — because we don't want them to have a fear of failure, which is what the World Cup is for some of them.
"Our success in England over the next couple of months depends on how well we release that aspect of our play — we need that for the team to be at our best. Each player needs to find out his own strengths," he said.