Proteas hope rain stays away for final World Cup warm-up

Rob Walter wasn’t too concerned about South Africa missing yet more game time ahead of the World Cup, after the Proteas first warm-up match against Afghanistan was rained out on Friday.

Having had more than five months off, South Africa have played just eight matches — three of them T20 Internationals — in the lead-up to the World Cup, creating understandable concerns that they will head into next Saturday’s first match against Sri Lanka somewhat undercooked. 

“It’s never great to miss game time, and if you look at the last three ODIs with Australia, we only bowled 35 overs in each of those, so we wanted a full 50 overs (against Afghanistan), but the weather didn’t play ball,” said Walter.

South Africa is scheduled to face New Zealand in a final warm-up match also in Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday, but more rain has been forecast for then too.

The players have had three days of intense practice and will head to Delhi on Tuesday ahead of their first match in the tournament. 

“The majority of time together has been at training; we spend a lot of time together from the series against Australia, and being here now is just a continuation of that and the things we are working on.

“We are continually trying to upskill ourselves, and to connect tightly as a team and be ready for whatever is in front of us over the coming weeks.”

Walter refused to provide details about skipper Temba Bavuma’s return to South Africa other than saying it was for family reasons, but remained hopeful Bavuma would be back with the squad when they arrive in the Indian capital next week. 

He was much more revealing about the circumstances surrounding the omission of all-rounder Sisanda Magala.

The 32-year-old, who was originally selected for India, was withdrawn just a couple of days before the side’s departure. 

Though Magala had bowled 10 overs as part of a fitness test, Walter and Bavuma felt the risk of taking him to India was too big, given that the knee injury, which saw him bowl just four overs in the Australian series, is a chronic one. 

Magala subsequently bowled for his provincial team, the Lions, in a domestic one-day match, but Walter said the World Cup simply wasn’t an option.

“The regulations for the World Cup are very different than for a domestic competition; if he pulls up for the Lions, he just gets replaced. At the World Cup we can’t replace him if he arrived with an existing injury, which was the case,” said the Proteas coach.

“We had to make a call based on that risk and we then had to put the team first. The last thing we need is to be at a World Cup and we are carrying a bowler (with an injury) leaving all the legwork to be done, by five other fast bowlers. It’s the risk with that debilitating injury, which is a chronic thing, it can flare up at any stage. We just couldn't take the risk of having him here.”