In June, South Africa reached the T20 World Cup final with no bilateral series wins from four attempts under Walter and with the entire squad only convening two days before the event started, with players traveling from the IPL. And last November, South Africa reached the ODI World Cup semi-final, with limited ODI game time under their belt. 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.
“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.”
Mindset and sense of occasion aside, South Africa also have personnel questions as they deal with a slew of injured bowlers. Seven of their seamers – Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee, Wiaan Mulder, Anrich Nortje, Ottneil Baartman, Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams are currently injured – and though all but Burger, who has lower back stress fractures, are expected to return this season, there is no telling how many will make it to the Champions Trophy. The problem is compounded by a niggle to Keshav Maharaj, who missed the recent ODI series after picking up a groin strain ahead of the first game, but could return for the Tests. For Walter, the number of players unavailable also means he was hamstrung in selection, which may ease the criticism of his results.
But there is no softener in the batting department, where South Africa have struggled to find someone to fill Quinton de Kock’s role at the top of the order, and collectively underperformed. Heinrich Klaasen was their only batter to score a half-century in the series – and he did it three times – but no-one else scored more than 100 runs across the three matches or got an individual score over 40 which Walter recognised as a concern.
“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.”
By then, Walter is hopeful there will be 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.”