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Proteas ‘committed to improving’ after lack of white-ball series wins extends to 12 months

Proteas ‘committed to improving’ after lack of white-ball series wins extends to 12 months
Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter. (Photo: Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images)
Keanan Hemmonsbey
By Keanan Hemmonsbey
30 Sep 2024
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Two World Cups have passed since the Proteas last won a white-ball series after playing to a 1-1 draw against Ireland this weekend.

The last white-ball series the Proteas won was in September 2023, when they beat Australia 3-2 in a one-day international series at home.

Since then, the Proteas made the semifinal of the 50-over World Cup in India and the final of the T20 World Cup in America and the Caribbean.

In that time, they have also played and lost or drawn a white-ball series against India (twice), West Indies (twice), Afghanistan, and, most recently, Ireland.

It’s a diabolical 12-month run of results outside of the global showpieces. 

The Proteas claimed a comfortable eight-wicket win over Ireland in the first T20I on Friday after standout performances from Ryan Rickelton, who brought up his first half century in international cricket (76 off 48), and Patrick Kruger (four for 27), who collected career-best figures with the ball. 

But that went pear-shaped in the second and final T20I when Ireland secured a 10-run win over the Proteas, who failed to chase a formidable total of 195, to claim their first-ever T20I win over the side. 

Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter. (Photo: Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images)



Opener Ross Adair was destroyer-in-chief, notching his maiden century in the format off only 58 deliveries — and to add insult to injury, he was dismissed by Lizaad Williams off a no-ball on 19.

“You want to win every game you play,” Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter said after the disappointing loss that tied the two-match series.  “You’re certainly trying to win every game you play.

“We should have won the series against Ireland, but we didn’t. It’s about piecing the pieces of the puzzle together, and improving our performances as a unit.

“We’re a proud cricket team, we’re playing for a proud nation of sports-loving people who want to see South Africa win, who want to see us play good cricket.

“We haven’t done that at times and we’re certainly disappointed by that, but we’ll continue – especially me as coach – to look for the positives in it.”

Dismal run of defeats


There is a necessary context to the Proteas’ dismal run of defeats outside of World Cups. They’ve gone into the tours against West Indies, Afghanistan and now Ireland without a large number of their main stars.

The likes of David Miller, Kagiso Rabada, Heinrich Klaasen and Keshav Maharaj, who have starred for the country in the 50-over and T20 World Cups, were omitted from the sides in an effort to expand the pool of international standard cricketers.

“We’ll continue to understand the journey we’re on as a team and know that you have to, in some instances, be patient, but in other instances we must be a lot harder on ourselves and expect a bit more,” Walter said.

“The team is working exceptionally hard, the younger guys are working exceptionally hard on their games. We’re learning all the time, and ultimately, at some point, the learnings will need to turn into performance.

“In the meantime, it hurts a lot to lose.”

In the absence of those global stars, the inexperienced bunch of Matthew Breetzke, Kruger, Rickelton and Nqaba Peter have grabbed their opportunities in patches.

“That’s the thing about giving opportunities, ultimately it’s all done with the best intentions,” Walter said. 

Exposure to good opposition


“You have to give guys opportunities and exposure to good opposition to see where they stand to give them an insight on what they need to work on.

“As a team, we didn’t achieve the results in any way that we were hoping to. We came up against some stiff opposition along the way, but still, games that we would expect to win, we didn’t get done.

“However there are a bunch of young cricketers who played some good opposition, played some good cricket, learned a lot, and hopefully the learning now turns into performance.”

The Proteas have an opportunity to turn their form around when they take on Ireland in a three-match ODI series at the same venue of the T20Is series, at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates. The series starts on Wednesday. DM

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