After South Africa suffered a clean sweep in the ODI Series against Pakistan, the Proeteas White-ball coach Rob Walter has said that the side will find a way to ‘pull together’ for the Champions Trophy 2025.
After overseeing a 3-0 defeat in the ODI leg of the Pakistan tour of South Africa, Walter has been left with an ODI record of two series wins from six but does not think bilateral form accurately reflects what the team is capable of at major tournaments.
“I know they’ll shine through when it comes to these world events, these marquee events. The guys tend to step up. They tend to bring their best cricket,” Walter said at the Wanderers. “We’ve seen that for two World Cups in a row.”
South Africa reached the T20 World Cup 2024 final with no bilateral series win from four attempts under Walter and with the entire squad only convening two days before the event started.
Meanwhile South Africa reached ODI World Cup semi-finals, with limited ODI game ahead of the ICC event.
They drew a series against West Indies in March 2023 and then came from 2-0 down to beat Australia 3-2 in September just before the tournament.
Standing up in South Africa 👊
More as Pakistan brush aside the Proteas away from home 👇#SAvPAKhttps://t.co/dmlL2AEowO
— ICC (@ICC) December 23, 2024
“The reality is the lead up into the Champions Trophy won’t be anything, like the lead up to the World Cup. That’s the reality of the way the schedule is stacked up. But at the end of the day, I’ve just got to trust in the quality of the players,” he said.
“Obviously, the switching in codes will potentially pose a little bit of a challenge to us. But again, it’s not like the guys have not played 50-odd cricket. So I trust that when the time comes, we’ll be there.”
However, seven of the bowlers Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee, Wiaan Mulder, Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams are currently
“As a batting unit, we’ve spoken about someone taking pride in getting in and getting a big hundred and to be fair, we just haven’t been able to convert anything into really substantial knocks or partnerships in this series,” he said.
“It’s not like we’re unaware. Some of it is down to batting error and others down to bowling quality and we also have to acknowledge that.”
He also backed Tony de Zorzi as Temba Bavuma’s opening partner despite there is also an option available with Ryan Rickelton.
“If you look at Tony de Zorzi’s knock today, he was batting beautifully and then he got a brute of a ball that got him out at the end of the day. How do you assess that and what conversations do you have?
“I just want him to continue to play like he was playing because he was putting our noses in front up until that point,” Walter said.
“These things do happen and ultimately I think it’s important to know that the players themselves want to be better. They want to convert. They want to get big hundreds. It’s not through any lack of want. And again, I have to trust that that conversion will start happening and hopefully sooner rather than later.”
Walter is hopeful with enough good memories, Vibes and form to carry the ODI side through the Champions Trophy where they are grouped with Afghanistan, Australia and England.
“As a Proteas family, we’ll focus on these Test matches and getting ourselves to that World Test Championship final. And then obviously all the lads will pretty much be involved in the SA20, which will be highly competitive cricket, albeit in a different format,” he said. “I’m optimistic that when the time comes, we’ll pull together.”
South Africa is set to play two test matches against Pakistan. They are only one win away from securing their spot in the WTC finals and they are currently at the top of the WTC points table.
The first match of the test series will begin on December 26 at SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium.
