Enoch Nkwe hopeful majority of current Proteas squad will be available for 2027 World Cup in SA

Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe hopes the majority of the current Proteas squad will be available for the 2027 tournament that will be hosted in SA, but says Cricket SA will need to be flexible about how it manages the players’ schedule. 

The Proteas’ run to the semifinal of this year’s tournament has come as a surprise to many — including viewers in SA — and CSA will hope it can use it as a basis for the 2027 campaign. Nkwe and CSA’s CEO, Pholetsi Moseki, have set a goal of winning that tournament as a priority. 

“We would love the current squad with a couple of other players to be part of 2027. We have spoken extensively with players over the last year so they are well aware of the big picture,” said Nkwe, who joined the Proteas touring party in Kolkata last week.

With cricket’s changing landscape, most notably the creation of more T20 leagues and a possible expansion of the sport’s biggest tournament, the Indian Premier League very likely in the next four years, players will increasingly be under pressure about what to prioritise, including when they will play for their country.

Cricket SA’s own event, the SA20, in which it holds a majority stake, will be removing players from national duty in February when the Proteas are due to face New Zealand in a two-match Test series. 

“We are not coming with a fixed mindset. We are very open to the new world,” said Nkwe.

Though he accepts that there can’t be guarantees from any of the players, Nkwe said he was confident that many of the top names would be available in 2027. 

“We are hoping the majority of the marquee players will be available for 2027. Most of them are in their 30s. When I engage with them, they are so hungry for silverware for SA. It’s an opportunity to end their career at home, with the opportunity that we are going to win it.”

Nkwe mentioned the likes of David Miller, who will be 37 when SA hosts the World Cup, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma and even Quinton de Kock — who announced his retirement from the ODI format at the end of this World Cup — as players whose playing time will be strategically managed in the next few years. 

“Post-World Cup I would like to engage with them in terms of the future. We are going to have to work on the short term. The leagues are there and how we work together to ensure player management becomes clear.”

One of the short-term deadlines will be the 2025 Champions Trophy, which will take place in Pakistan, with Nkwe saying many players will be clearer about their futures after that event.

“We understand that maybe some of them after the Champions Trophy are going to say that is going to be it. We are working on the SA A programme to fast-track players, who we think can be part of the mix, along with some of the players here, for 2027,” said Nkwe.

As for De Kock, who offered a “you-never-know” when asked last week if this World Cup would definitely be his last, Nkwe said he was hoping for a Ben Stokes type of situation. 

Stokes announced his retirement from ODIs last year only to do an about-turn weeks before the World Cup.

“We will give him the space he needs. I am hoping he will have a sabbatical and then have a rethink,” Nkwe said of De Kock.

“He loves playing for the country. I am hoping a couple of months down the line we can have a different conversation.”