On Friday, South Africa and England will begin their one-day international series in Bloemfontein, and the Proteas will need to play well if they want to guarantee themselves a spot in this year’s Cricket World Cup.
With automatic qualification to the Cricket World Cup at stake, South Africa will need a solid showing when they face England in a one-day international series beginning on Friday in Bloemfontein. The International Cricket Council’s World Cup Super League, of which these three matches are a part, will determine the top eight teams who will compete in the upcoming World Cup in India in October and November. To move past the West Indies, who are now in ninth place after finishing their schedule, South Africa needs to win at least three of their remaining five matches, and they also have to play two matches against the Netherlands.
Sri Lanka, though, might move ahead of the West Indies if they win the last series in New Zealand by a 2-1 margin in March. The only way for South Africa to ensure the qualification is to win their remaining five matches.
In June and July, Zimbabwe will host a qualification competition for teams that didn’t make the cut for the World Cup automatically.
After Mark Boucher’s departure as head coach, South Africa enters the England ODI series in a period of transition.
While the new white ball coach, Rob Walter, finishes up his contract with Central Districts in New Zealand, the newly hired Test coach, Shukri Conrad, will take the reins for the next matches against England.
Conrad claimed to have frequent interactions with Walter. “There is a lot of overlap between our perspectives. Almost daily, we talk on the phone.”
When asked to inject new blood into an underperforming 50-overs team, South African selectors did not do so before their series against England.
“It is a really stable squad,” Conrad added. They have a firm grasp of the requisite series knowledge.
When Walter takes over next month, however, there may be some new ideas.
After being put in charge of an Otago side that was not performing up to expectations, Walter demonstrated his willingness to take firm action in his first coaching position in New Zealand.
He told the Rapport newspaper in South Africa, “I had to take some painful decisions and that resulted in the departure of some veteran players.”
Faf du Plessis, 38, made the first century in South Africa’s SA20 league on Tuesday night, raising the prospect that he may return to international cricket.
His first order of business, according to Walter, who previously worked with Du Plessis as head coach of the Titans team before the latter relocated to New Zealand in 2016, is to meet with South African white-ball captain Temba Bavuma.
Jos Buttler, England’s captain and the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and Jofra Archer, a fast bowler for the MI Cape Town team, are just two of the eight members of the English squad who have been participating in the SA20 tournament.
Archer’s two-year absence from England’s lineup is due to injuries.
The fast bowler assured reporters in Bloemfontein that his health had improved to the point that he was no longer scared that his body was “about to give way.”
Squads:
Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wkt), Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, and Rassie van der Dussen represent South Africa
The English team consists of Jos Buttler (wk), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, David Willey, and Chris Woakes.
Fixtures:
Bloemfontein, January 27 (day-night)
Bloemfontein, South Africa, January 29th, 2019 (day)
Kimberley, First February (day-night)
