Proteas captain wary of unknown Canada ahead of World Cup opener

The North Americans are definitely not one of the traditional cricketing nations, and are a bit of a closed book compared to their more luminary opponents in the sport in South Africa. 

Markram admitted that they didn’t know too much about the team coming into the tournament, but did what they had to do to get an idea of what they’ll be facing.

"Uhm did a little bit of homework yesterday so got a decent idea now obviously coming to the World Cup we didn't know too much but it’s important to do that homework and research on their players strength, weaknesses all those sorts of things and yeah definitely got a better understanding now," Markram said.

READ: Siwelele coach gives update on Kgaogelo Sekgota’s injury after Nedbank Cup exit

While Markram knows that this is a mismatch on paper and they’ll be expected to win with a comfortable margin, he still remains humble about their chances. 

He says it’s important to respect the opponents regardless of who they are.

"Yeah you don't wanna jinx anything, start of this comp [competition] already we've seen some close games and it doesn't look like it's gonna be any straightforward easy games,” he added.

“But I have faith in our team that if we put a really good game of cricket together then we give ourselves a good chance and a good result, that's sort of something you wanna do in a competition like this. 

“You wanna start really well and run with that moving forward. So, that's where the focus has been for us as a group and hopefully we can put a good game of cricket together."