Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Sport

Sport, DM168

Proteas look to 2027 World Cup to clear final hurdles at home

Proteas look to 2027 World Cup to clear final hurdles at home
Kane Williamson of New Zealand bats, watched by South African wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen, during the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal in Lahore, Pakistan, on 5 March. Photo: Sameer Ali/Getty Images
Keanan Hemmonsbey
By Keanan Hemmonsbey
9 Mar 2025
Facebook
0
With the next World Cup on home soil, South Africa are determined to end their knockout-stage struggles and claim a long-awaited tournament victory.

The Proteas under Rob Walter have transformed themselves into a tournament team, albeit one that is still un­­able to get over the line.

In 2023, Walter broke an eight-year duck in white-ball tournament knockout phases when his side reached the semifinal of the Cricket World Cup in India.

And in 2024, the side went further than any other Proteas men’s side had gone when they made the final of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the US.

This year, in the Champions Trophy, they made the final four again, but like those times before, failed to go all the way and lift the trophy.

South Africa have previously been called “chokers” for their failure to get over the line in winning positions in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments. However, in the Champions Trophy semifinal against New Zealand in Lahore, Pakistan, on 5 March, a “choke” wasn’t what caused their demise.

They were thoroughly outplayed by a more polished Black Caps side, who set a Champions Trophy record score of 362 for six in their 50 overs. It was always going to be a steep challenge, despite the docile pitch favouring strokemaking.

Chasing a score that high would have taken a special effort by a few of the South African batters and, apart from David Miller in recent times, they’ve proved incapable of pulling it off when the lights are brightest in the knockouts.

The Champions Trophy is one of the smaller international white-ball tournaments. The biggest one is happening in just more than two years, when the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will be hosted in South Africa.

There will be no greater pressure on the side than then. Walter has set the target of getting the side over the line at home.

“[The semifinal loss] is a hard lesson,” Walter said.

“You feel it a little bit more because it’s the end of the campaign, but we certainly continue to keep learning from things – little bits here and there to see if we can do better. We’re still evolving as a team, there’s no doubt in my mind. Two and a half years to 2027 and that’s the eyes on the prize.”

Positives


South Africa were placed in the “group of death” in the Champions Trophy alongside reigning World Cup champions Australia, 2019 World Cup winners England and fast-improving Afghanistan.

They topped the group after comfortable 107-run and seven-wicket wins over Afghanistan and England, respectively. Sandwiched between that was a rained-out match against Australia without a ball being bowled. The Proteas were solid in all three departments in those matches without being pushed too far by two teams that felt a rung below their class.

Ryan Rickelton emerged as a long-term opening option in the tournament, with the highlight being a maiden ODI century he struck in the opening match against Afghanistan.

Rassie van der Dussen was also at his consistent best in the Champions Trophy, striking three half-centuries in the three innings he batted. With the ball, Marco Jansen was a standout in the group games, but again he looked overawed by the occasion in a knockout match – as if he were in the final stages of the previous two white-ball tournaments.

“There’s been positives along the way,” Walter said. “We’ve seen different guys step up.

Proteas Kane Williamson of New Zealand bats, watched by South African wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen, during their Champions Trophy semifinal in Lahore, Pakistan, on 5 March 2025. (Photo: Sameer Ali / Getty Images)



“The Champions Trophy is such a short tournament. We actually only played two games to get to the semis. It feels like we’ve been here a while, and we’ve only played two matches.

“As a team, we played really well. [The semifinal] wasn’t our best day out there, we acknowledge that, and we’re up front with that.

“We’ve done well. The two games that we won, we won convincingly, and we did well with bat and ball and fielded exceptionally well. Our conversion rate was second in the competition.

“There’s a lot to smile about, but [it’s] certainly very disappointing to lose [in the semifinal].”

For Walter to turn the team into more than just a great group-stage side in future tournaments like the 2027 World Cup, he’ll need to find a way for more than just one or two players to step up in knockout matches.

Travel


South Africa’s lead-up to their semi­final clash was less than perfect. The team travelled to Dubai the evening after their final group-stage match against England be­fore flying back to Pakistan the next day.

“It’s early morning, it’s after a game and we had to fly,” Miller said. “Then we got to Dubai at 4pm, and at 7.30 in the morning we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice.

“It’s not like we flew five hours – and we had enough time to recover and recuperate – but it wasn’t the ­ideal situation still.”

It’s a flight that takes less than two hours one way, which isn’t hugely inconvenient, but it is uncomfort­able for an already anxious outfit.

New Zealand played their final group-stage match in Dubai against India before flying back to Pakistan to face South Africa in the semifinal. But they knew that a match awaited them when they landed at their destination.

South Africa, instead, were in the air, uncertain of what would happen when they landed.

Although what ended up as needless travel was not solely to blame, the small margins are often what make the difference in a crucial match between evenly matched sides. And for New Zealand, those small margins all fell their way – from the toss to the dropped chances to the travel arrangements.

At home in 2027, those margins should all be in South Africa’s favour, and there will be no excuses not to go all the way.

Walter – for reasons largely out of his control – has struggled in bilateral series outside of tournaments. South Africa won only three of 14 ODIs between the conclusion of the 2023 World Cup and the Champions Trophy, losing six matches in the build-up to the tournament.

But he has managed to bring all his big players together well on the biggest stage. Now it’s up to him to take the team to another level. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

Categories:

Tags: