Cricket was different the last time any senior teams from South Africa and Canada - men or women, regardless of format - played against each other. Make that the only time.

South Africa's total of 254/8 would have been piddling in the modern game. But it was enough to win that 2003 men's World Cup encounter in East London by 118 runs. Buffalo Park, which holds 15,000, wasn't full. Watch Canada? No thanks, we'd rather make that long postponed root canal appointment.

Even if the ground had been packed to the top of its grass banks that day it would have held a piddling 11.36% of the 132,000 capacity of the gargantuan all-seater, all plastic, concrete and steel - not a grass bank in sight - Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, where the teams will meet again on Monday in the men's T20 World Cup.

How many might turn up to watch? Maybe fewer than those who did for these teams' first encounter not quite 23 years ago. Even bussing in children on Monday could be a challenge, what with the proximity of their school examinations. In a venue that needs to be more than half-full to not seem desolate, thousands of vacant seats present a problem for broadcasters and players alike.

"It could look quite empty because it's such a massive stadium," Aiden Markram said on Sunday. "But it will be on us to create intensity if there's no real atmosphere and vibe that we might be used to. It could be different but it's something that you have to deal with and work around. It's definitely no excuse to not be on your game."

The world's most vast cricket stadium holds more than four times as many as the Wanderers, South Africa's biggest. Upwards of three times as many as the total number of people who play the game in Canada could be comfortably accommodated in Ahmedabad.

Cricket's colosseum didn't exist in its current form at the time of that 2003 World Cup match - construction was completed in February 2020. Neither did T20 as a professional entity - Durham and Nottinghamshire played the first such match in the format in Chester-le-Street on June 13 that year.

Or 107 days after Boeta Dippenaar, now 48 but forever the world's oldest 12-year-old, who some still delight in calling Dipper Boetenaar, who is a commercial pilot and the chief executive of an aviation company, no less, made 80 against Canada.

Shaun Pollock blitzed 32 off 23. Scandalous! What did the Ginger Ninja think he was doing? Andrew Hall pelted a positively profane unbeaten 22 off 11. Even more outrageously, Makhaya Ntini hit a four and a six in his six-ball 14. Yes, Makhaya Ntini. Then he took 2/19 off 10 overs.

Aside from medium pacer Ashish Patel's 3/42 and opener Ishwar Maharaj's 53 not out - a monument to pointless perseverance that came off 155 balls, an almost unmentionable strike rate of 34.19 - the Canadians didn't achieve much.

But that didn't mean the South Africans would turn up on Monday expecting to be handed two points for the win. Even so, how much did Markram know about his team's opponents?

"I did a bit of homework yesterday, so I've got a decent idea," he said. "Coming to the World Cup I didn't know too much, but it's important to do that homework and research on their players; strengths, weaknesses, all those sorts of things. I've got a much better understanding now."

Best Markram and his men come armed with knowledge, because some of the tournament's less heralded sides showed their mettle on Saturday. Pakistan slipped to 114/7 in search of the 148 they needed to beat the Netherlands in Colombo - which they did with three balls remaining. McJohnnys-come-lately Scotland surged to within 50 runs of victory with five wickets and 22 balls in hand - only for Romario Shepherd's four wickets in five balls to set up West Indies' 35-run win at Eden Gardens. At the Wankhede, India crashed to 77/6 before rerouting to a total of 161/9 - which proved enough to beat the United States by 29 runs. At the Wankhede on Sunday, Nepal were halted a scant four runs shy of overhauling England's 184/7.

In light of all that, was Markram looking for an emphatic performance and a big win on Monday? He spotted the trick question for what it was.

"You don't want to jinx anything," Markram said. "Already we've seen some close games and it doesn't look like there are going to be any straightforward, easy matches. But I have faith in our team that if we put a really good game of cricket together we give ourselves a good chance of getting a good result. That's something you want to do in a competition like this - start really well and run with that."

What was it like to be a pitbull in a kennel - albeit a massive kennel - with a poodle?

"It can feel tougher [than taking on a bigger team]. We haven't played them... well I certainly haven't played them in my career. So you're not 100% sure what to expect, and that poses a new challenge. When you play teams consistently you have a pretty good idea of how they approach the game; their plans, the players and their abilities.

"But we don't want to put too much emphasis on that. We'd rather focus on our skills, on our plans and executing well. We feel if we're able to do that we give ourselves a good chance."

Still, some will wonder why Canada - and while we're at it Scotland, Italy, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Oman and the Americans - are at a World Cup. What would the Canadians say to those people?

"I would say they should watch the last few games, where the associate countries have made it tough for the Test-playing nations," Dilpreet Bajwa, their captain, said. "We are here to play cricket. They are here to play cricket. So, good luck to them."

Markram would have concurred: "Look at the games that have already happened [in this tournament] and the upsets in previous World Cups. The gap between the associate nations and the other countries has become a lot smaller. In this format specifically it takes one or two guys to have a really good day for an upset to happen.

"The associate teams have been playing really well. There have been some close games that could have swung either way, that have been on a knife's edge. That's exciting to watch."

It was a nice thing to say, but Markram won't want the Canadians to be too exciting on Monday.