South Africa face New Zealand in the Semi-Final of the ICC Cricket World Cup tomorrow and AB De Villiers is in no mood to spend time worrying about past failures, or about the opposition.

The Proteas skipper admits to having been through the full spectrum of emotions with regards his nation's previous failures in One-Day International Cricket's flagship tournament.

But, having emphatically put their knockout jinx to bed in the Quarter-Final against Sri Lanka, De Villiers is in confident mood ahead of the last four clash.

"There has been a lot of emphasis on our past and on South Africa not doing well at World Cups," he said.

"We don't mind that too much. I've gone through the whole package of feeling emotional about it, fighting against it, then accepting it, then fighting again.

"We've played some good cricket over the last few years, we've been working towards this World Cup and working towards a game like tomorrow.

"Honestly I'm not putting any emphasis on that at this World Cup at all."

New Zealand won all six group stage fixtures ahead of their 143-run Quarter-Final victory over the West Indies, while South Africa lost on two occasions, against India and Pakistan, before securing a nine-wicket success against Sri Lanka in their last eight encounter.

But De Villiers, who has Nottinghamshire bound paceman Vernon Philander available for selection following a hamstring injury, is unconcerned by previous results and unwilling to spend time focussing on the Kiwis ahead of the fixture.

"I never like losing a cricket game so, personally to me, I don't feel proud of the two losses in the group stages.

"But the nice thing is it's in the past and we find ourselves in the Semi-Final of a World Cup.

"We played a really good game in the quarters and we have a lot of confidence behind us.

"I feel the team is in a really good space at a really good time, so we've got a lot of reasons to be confident ahead of tomorrow's game.

"It would be silly to focus too much on the cricket they've played because they've played really well," the 31-year-old continued.

"But not only that, I personally don't like to focus too much on the opposition. I believe, if we play to our potential, nobody is going to stop us in this tournament.

"It's more important for me to get the guys in a good space; to make sure they're confident mentally and fresh physically.

"If we rock up here and play a good game of cricket, we will come out on top."

Play in the ICC Cricket World Cup Semi-Final between New Zealand and South Africa will get underway, in Auckland, at 1am UK time.

 

Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to watch England seek redemption against the Kiwis and secure your seat now.