Having players understand how their game measures up in difficult conditions is a priority for Proteas head coach Rob Walter and will see him continue to give players a chance to prove themselves and grow.
The men in green and gold may have gone down by 69 runs in the final one-day international against Ireland, but that result was purely mathematical as they claimed a 2-1 series triumph.
Having won the first two encounters by 139 and 174 runs respectively, the Proteas would have been buoyed with aspirations of a series whitewash.
However, it was not to be as they fell behind early on in their chase and could ultimately not recover.
Despite the result, Walter was pleased with his side’s performance in the series and said there was a host of positives for them to look forward to as a group.
“The bowling unit bowled very well the entire series. We learnt tonight [Monday] that when bowling at night, there was a little more in it for the bowling unit, but I thought the guys used the conditions very well in those first two games,” Walter said in his post-match reaction.
He also commended the newer faces in the squad, particularly players like Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Jason Smith, each of whom made good contributions with the bat in the three-match series.
“Winning the series is always a positive. There have been bits of positive stuff to take home with us [from a gameplay point of view].
“We would have loved to finish the series off with three wins, but unfortunately we got behind the eight ball quite early when batting and struggled throughout,” Walter said.
Furthermore, Walter would not be drawn into questions about who has impressed him enough to warrant future call-ups.
“There is a lot of time between now and then. We are missing some of our senior players in the 50-over format.
“We have Gerald [Coetzee] and Marco [Jansen] coming back from their conditioning block and have already played a couple of domestic games, so four weeks left there.
“So, there will be a number of key players who will be available and coming back into the fray with a bit of cricket to be played between now and then.
“The bowling unit in terms of Lizaad [Williams], Lungi [Ngidi] and Ottniel [Baartman] have bowled well as a trio in this series.
“In terms of our batting, the guys who got the runs are the ones who have staked a claim for potentially some more opportunities.
“We keep chipping away at our peripheral players, having these opportunities is exactly what we are after, we want to keep giving a certain group of players some opportunity to grow their experience but also just to understand what their game looks like in different conditions.”
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Walter keen to give players chance to grow
Sports reporter
Image: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
Having players understand how their game measures up in difficult conditions is a priority for Proteas head coach Rob Walter and will see him continue to give players a chance to prove themselves and grow.
The men in green and gold may have gone down by 69 runs in the final one-day international against Ireland, but that result was purely mathematical as they claimed a 2-1 series triumph.
Having won the first two encounters by 139 and 174 runs respectively, the Proteas would have been buoyed with aspirations of a series whitewash.
However, it was not to be as they fell behind early on in their chase and could ultimately not recover.
Despite the result, Walter was pleased with his side’s performance in the series and said there was a host of positives for them to look forward to as a group.
“The bowling unit bowled very well the entire series. We learnt tonight [Monday] that when bowling at night, there was a little more in it for the bowling unit, but I thought the guys used the conditions very well in those first two games,” Walter said in his post-match reaction.
He also commended the newer faces in the squad, particularly players like Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Jason Smith, each of whom made good contributions with the bat in the three-match series.
“Winning the series is always a positive. There have been bits of positive stuff to take home with us [from a gameplay point of view].
“We would have loved to finish the series off with three wins, but unfortunately we got behind the eight ball quite early when batting and struggled throughout,” Walter said.
Furthermore, Walter would not be drawn into questions about who has impressed him enough to warrant future call-ups.
“There is a lot of time between now and then. We are missing some of our senior players in the 50-over format.
“We have Gerald [Coetzee] and Marco [Jansen] coming back from their conditioning block and have already played a couple of domestic games, so four weeks left there.
“So, there will be a number of key players who will be available and coming back into the fray with a bit of cricket to be played between now and then.
“The bowling unit in terms of Lizaad [Williams], Lungi [Ngidi] and Ottniel [Baartman] have bowled well as a trio in this series.
“In terms of our batting, the guys who got the runs are the ones who have staked a claim for potentially some more opportunities.
“We keep chipping away at our peripheral players, having these opportunities is exactly what we are after, we want to keep giving a certain group of players some opportunity to grow their experience but also just to understand what their game looks like in different conditions.”
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