‘Good prep for Champions Trophy’ – South Africa coach unbothered six-match losing streak | Cricket News
As finals of last year’s T20 World Cup, with a team full of big names on the franchise-league circuit, South Africa may give the impression of being a formidable white-ball team. But their current form going into the Champions Trophy in Pakan next week does not.
Two successive defeats to Pakan and New Zealand in the ongoing tri-series – both matches in which they failed to defend 300+ scores – and a whitewash Pakan in the ODI series at home late last year puts the Proteas on a six-match losing streak going into their Champions Trophy opener against Afghanan on February 21.
But coach Rob Walter is not as concerned. “We have more information now than we did before, for Lahore and Karachi,” he said in a press conference after defeat to Pakan on Wednesday, according to Cricbuzz. “To have a good understanding of conditions is a win, and something we’ll lean on as we move forward. For those in the squad who are going to be in the Champions Trophy, it’s good prep. And there’s plenty of learning for the younger guys who’ve not been to Pakan before.”
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The calm response may be perplexing after such a horrid run, but it stands to reason. White-ball bilateral cricket today is hardly an indicator of a side’s form or fortunes, with most of their players missing from playing XIs as either rested or playing franchise cricket in a different corner of the world.
And South Africa is no different. The tri-series acted only as a glorified warmup for them with as many seven of their main playing XI – Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, Tran Stubbs, David Miller, Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada – missing.
So, Walter was content enough to get information on the Pakani conditions in their two concerning losses. “If the pitches are the same [for the Champions Trophy] you can expect to see more scores of 350. There wasn’t much seam movement, there wasn’t much bounce, and there certainly wasn’t much turn. So only eight wickets fell,” he said.
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