South Africa are “clearly satisfied” to have certified immediately for the boys’s ODI World Cup, to be performed in India later this yr, after spending the majority of the World Cup Tremendous League exterior of the highest eight. They usually have the climate in Chelmsford to thank for it.
With the no-result within the first of three ODIs between Eire and Bangladesh on Tuesday, even when Eire go on to say the collection, they can not surpass South Africa in eighth place on the Tremendous League factors desk. Eire are assured a ninth-place end, although, and can compete within the ten-team qualifying match in Zimbabwe, which runs from June 18 to July 9, and in addition contains former world champions West Indies and Sri Lanka.
“We’re clearly satisfied to qualify immediately as a result of it makes life loads easier not having to undergo the qualifying match,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, instructed ESPNcricinfo. “However there would have been an upside to competing within the qualifier given the very quiet winter we’ve.”
South Africa returned empty-handed from each, however neither format mattered as a lot as ODIs. They began the yr in eleventh place on the Tremendous League standings – effectively exterior the automated qualification zone – after collection losses to Pakistan (2021 – residence), Sri Lanka (2021 – away) and Bangladesh (2022 – residence) and forfeiting a collection in Australia (scheduled for January 2023) to permit their prime cricketers to be out there for the inaugural SA20 league.
South Africa gave themselves the very best likelihood of progressing to the World Cup with collection wins over England and Netherlands, which lifted them into No. 8, however the ultimate end result was not of their fingers, as they waited for the Eire vs Bangladesh matches to happen.
Planning for World Cup already on, Rob Walter confirms
Walter confirmed that Cricket South Africa had put in place “two plans based mostly on both eventuality” to execute: one if a visit to Zimbabwe was needed, and one other if South Africa held on to eighth place. The primary of these would have necessitated Walter’s return from his residence in New Zealand sooner than deliberate and seen a return to motion for prime gamers shortly after the top of the IPL on Could 28. Now, they’ll solely be known as on later within the winter. The second plan has already begun, with a camp on the high-performance centre in Pretoria from Tuesday.
“What we’ve now’s the prospect to spend some high quality time exterior of competitors getting ourselves prepared for a marquee occasion,” Walter stated. “We’ve got a variety of camps deliberate all through the winter within the lead as much as the Australia collection which clearly kinds our ultimate preparation for the World Cup. There may be additionally the ‘A’ aspect tour to Sri Lanka, so we’ve tried to make sure important talent improvement alternatives and time within the center from a aggressive viewpoint.”
“All gamers have a person evaluation highlighting strengths and particular areas of focus within the interval,” Walter stated. “That is all deliberate alongside our gamers’ involvement within the completely different leagues that proceed on by the winter.”
