South Africa are looking to get away from being known as chokers and take a winning momentum into their World Cup opener against Sri Lanka.

Since South Africa came back from being in the middle of nowhere during the apartheid era, their relationship with the tournament has been, at best, bittersweet and, at worst, cursed.

In 1992, they had to beat England in the semi-final, but they had to get 22 runs off of one ball, which was mathematically impossible.

Eleven years later, during a tied match with Sri Lanka, they misunderstood the rules about rain and were kicked out of their own tournament.

In the semi-finals of the 1999 event, they had a crazy ending with Australia that made them lose when they were sure they were going to win.

“I genuinely believe that we’re not chokers,” key batsman David Miller told ESPNcricinfo this week.

“How that tag affects people is an individual thing, but it’s never, ever bothered me.”

He added: “Obviously there’s been history and there’s been games that we’ve not played well in that have let us down. But I would never say the ‘chokers’ tag applies to us, although that’s what everyone says.”

South Africa should have been free of the baggage of self-destruction when they went to India because seven of the 15-person team had never played in a World Cup.

That includes captain Temba Bavuma, who likes to focus on the experience of the players in his team who have played in the Indian Premier League.

Quinton de Kock, who will stop playing international cricket after the tournament, has done well in India. In 2022, he scored 140 not out, which was the third highest score in IPL history.

“A lot of the teams have guys who played in India, have done well in India,” said Bavuma.

“I think all we could do is for the guys who have that experience and knowledge, they can share it among the team or use it in terms of our strategies and plans.”

South Africa came back from being down 2-0 to beat Australia 3-2 at home in a five-game series last month.

In a World Cup warm-up game at Thiruvananthapuram, they lost to New Zealand, but De Kock was the star with an unbeaten 84, and fast bowlers Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen each took three wickets.

Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996, but they had to go through qualifying to get there.

This year, they won 13 straight games, but India beat them twice in the Asia Cup, including in the final, which they lost.

After being bowled out for only 50, they were beaten by 10 wickets, and it only took India six overs to reach the goal.

“Everyone wants to make a statement, we are here to perform well in this tournament,” insisted captain Danuka Shanaka whose team hasn’t faced South Africa since 2021.

Afghanistan and Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka in both of their World Cup warm-up games.

But the fact that Kusal Mendis hit 158 against Afghanistan was a good sign.