Fresh from last Sunday’s dramatic two-wicket loss to Australia in the final ODI clash at the SCG – a result that saw the Aussies leapfrog South Africa and India into the No.1 ranking for ODI sides – de Villiers was in no mood to entertain suggestions his side would struggle at next year’s World Cup.
"There is absolutely no doubt in (my) mind we are the better team," declared de Villiers on ESPN CricInfo.
“We didn't play the big moments as well as we wanted to but I really believe we could have beaten them 4-1 on another day but it didn't happen that way.
“They will be one of the favourites for the World Cup but I still believe we are better team. We will be the team to beat at the World Cup."
World Cups are a touchy subject for South Africa after becoming known for choking in the big tournaments over the years.
Having been brought back into the international cricketing fold in 1992, the South Africans endured a tough semi-final loss to England in a rain-affected affair where some dubious calculations following a delay left them needing 22 runs off a single ball.
In 1999, Australia came from behind to win a famous clash that saw Herschelle Gibbs drop Steve Waugh at a crucial moment during their Super S. Legend has it, Waugh said to Gibbs: “You dropped the World Cup.”
That result was good enough to send Australia through to a semi-final clash with the South Africans just a few days later, a result that was famously tied as the Proteas failed to make four runs off the final two balls. It was a result that allowed the Aussies to make the final at the South Africans expense as they were better placed after the Super Six stage.
The chokes kept coming as South Africa didn’t even make the Super Six stage on home soil in 2003 in another rain-affected encounter as Shaun Pollock didn’t get his maths right with the Duckworth-Lewis system and allowed his team to tie with Sri Lanka, a result that saw them bow out.
In 2007, a savage Australia took five wickets for just 20 runs to knock South Africa out of the World Cup in the quarter-final stage while the Kiwis did the damage in the 2011 quarter-final.
Despite the less-than-glorious history and South Africa’s chokes over the final 10 overs in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney over the last week, coach Russell Domingo is adamant his side has the mental steel to overcome the past and take the World Cup.
"We've performed under pressure in all formats in the last year or two," he said.
"From batting out a day in Colombo, beating Australia in a final in Zimbabwe, to beating New Zealand in New Zealand - mentally the team is in a very good space. Skill and execution of skill is more the concern than the mental capacity of the side."