Rob Walter optimistic of South Africa’s Champions Trophy hopes despite being whitewashed at home against Pakistan.
Rob Walter is looking at the bigger picture for South Africa after losing the 3-match ODI series against Pakistan.
According to white-ball coach Rob Walter, South Africa will find a way to “pull together” for the Champions Trophy 2025 after losing their first ODI match at home and without any more match practice with a full-strength group before the competition.
Walter has an ODI record of two series wins from six after managing the team’s 3-0 loss to Pakistan, although he does not believe that the bilateral form fairly represents the team’s ability to compete in 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.”
With no bilateral series victories from four efforts under Walter and with the complete team only getting together two days prior to the start of the competition, with players travelling from the IPL, South Africa advanced to the T20 World Cup final in June. Despite having little experience playing ODI, South Africa advanced to the ODI World Cup semi-final last November. In March 2023, they drew a series with the West Indies. Shortly before the event, in September, they overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Australia 3-2.
They have games on the eve of the Champions Trophy, a tri-series in Pakistan, this time around as well, but they won’t be able to use all of their first-choice players because some of them will be playing in the SA20 finals. Walter is aware that might be difficult.
“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.”