South Africa's failure in high-pressure matches is part of World Cup lore, with the strongly tipped Proteas losing three semifinals and a quarterfinal in five World Cup appearances since 1992.

“That's the nature of knockout tournaments, that's what makes it exciting and that's what makes it tough,” captain Graeme Smith said on Tuesday. “As an international sportsman, pressure is a part of your life. You learn to deal with pressure.” Team talks and some “really good bonding sessions” were an important part of the Proteas' mental buildup, Smith said, as the team heads for the subcontinent carrying, once again, high expectations of success.

“We've had some good chats,” the outgoing captain said.

“We're as best prepared as we can be for this tournament.

“This team is in a good space and we're looking forward to getting going, getting some good results and on a roll.

There's some exciting things to come from this team.” Ahead of the team's departure later on Tuesday, Smith, who turned 30 last week, added he was looking forward to “leaving it all out there” at his final tournament as one-day captain.

Coach Corrie van Vyl, who will also step down at the end of the World Cup, said he hoped for a subdued buildup ahead of the Proteas' first World Cup game against West Indies on Feb. 24, but realized that was not going to happen.

South Africa President Jacob Zuma and the country's world champion rugby team pledged their support to the cricketers, and some professional footballers were present at a Johannesburg hotel to send the team off.

“We hope to do the country proud,” Van Zyl said. “For a year we've been preparing for the West Indies. We think we have got a very good squad and a lot of options.” South Africa had fallen into the trap in previous years of being “too result-driven,” said Van Zyl, and his team preferred to focus on “each day” rather than the quarterfinals or semifinals.

“We'll just concentrate on what we're doing right now,” Van Zyl said.

Smith added that thinking about the quarters or semis would be “getting ahead of ourselves.” Manager Mohammed Moosajee said he was confident all-rounder Jacques Kallis would be fit and would take his place for South Africa's World Cup opener in two weeks.

Kallis, South Africa's only injury worry, injured a right side muscle in a test against India at the beginning of the year and has not played since.

South Africa plays warmup matches against Zimbabwe and defending world champion Australia. Smith said the results of those two contests would not be important.

“We'll use the warmup games to achieve our own goals,” Smith said. “We want to keep things simple. We know what we want to do over there and we just need to go and do it.”