South Africa is “obviously pleased” to have qualified directly for the men’s ODI World Cup, to be played in India later this year, after spending most of the World Cup Super League outside the top eight. And they owe it to the weather in Chelmsford.
With the clean sheet result in the first of three ODIs between Ireland and Bangladesh on Tuesday, even if Ireland claim the series, they cannot surpass South Africa in eighth place on the Super League points table. However, Ireland is guaranteed ninth place and will take part in the ten-team qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, which runs from June 18 to July 9, and also sees former world champions West Indies and Sri Lanka take part.
“Obviously we are delighted to qualify directly as it makes life a lot easier not having to go through the qualifying tournament,” Rob Walter, South Africa’s white-ball coach, told ESPNcricinfo. “But there would have been an advantage to take part in the qualifier given the very calm winter we have.”
South Africa returned empty handed from both, but neither format mattered as much as ODIs. They started the year in 11th place in the Super League standings – well outside the automatic qualifying zone – after series defeats to Pakistan (2021 – home), Sri Lanka (2021 – away) and Bangladesh (2022 – home) and forfeiting a series in Australia (scheduled for January 2023) to make their best cricketers available for the inaugural SA20 competition.
South Africa gave themselves the best chance of progressing to the World Cup with series wins over England and the Netherlands to take them to No. 8, but the final result was not in their hands as they waited for the Ireland vs Bangladesh matches. place.
The planning for the World Cup has already started, confirms Rob Walter
Walter confirmed that Cricket South Africa had drawn up “two plans based on both scenarios” to implement: one if a trip to Zimbabwe was necessary, and another if South Africa held on to eighth place. The first of these would have resulted in Walter having to return from his home in New Zealand ahead of schedule and the top players returning to action shortly after the end of the IPL on May 28. Now they won’t be called up until later in the winter. . The second plan has already started, with a camp at the high-performance center in Pretoria from Tuesday.
“What we have now is the chance to spend some quality time away from the competition preparing for a marquee,” said Walter. “We’ve planned a number of camps over the winter leading up to the Australia series, which is obviously our final preparation for the World Cup. There’s also the ‘A’ side tour to Sri Lanka, so we’ve tried to make sure that there is a lot of opportunity for developing skills and time in the middle from a competitive point of view.”
“All players have individual analysis that highlights strengths and specific areas of focus over the period,” said Walter. “This is all planned in addition to our players’ involvement in the various competitions going on throughout the winter.”