Lessons must turn into winning performances for Proteas: Walter

Proteas white ball coach Rob Walter believes that ample lessons his players have taken from their recent matches will turn into performances that produce winning results. 

While the wounds will still be fresh from suffering their first defeat to Ireland in a T20 international match on Sunday, South Africa will have little time to mull over that as they prepare for the first of three one-day internationals against the same opponents on Wednesday. 

The Proteas won the first T20 against the Irish at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday by eight wickets, then lost the second by 10 runs.

Walter said while his team did not achieve the results it was hoping for from the series, there were some positives in that players were able to get valuable time in the middle.

“The thing about giving opportunities, ultimately it is all done with the best intentions,” he said. “You have to give them exposure to good opposition to see where they stand [and] to give them an insight as to what they need to work on.

“As a team, we did not in any way achieve the results we were hoping to, we came up against some stiff opposition along the way but still, the games we would expect to win we didn’t get done. 

“There are a bunch of young cricketers who have played [against] some good opposition, played good cricket and hopefully the learning now turns into performances.”

Fielding another relatively fresh-faced outfit, the Proteas looked on course to chase down the 195 set by Ireland.

However, another catastrophic middle-order collapse saw them hand Ireland a slender 10-run victory.

It was their fifth defeat in their last six matches in the format, dating back to the ill-fated T20 World Cup final against India in June. 

It also continues an unwanted run of not winning a T20 series since the Proteas last beat the Irish 2-0 in England in 2022. It was only the second drawn series since India’s visit to South Africa in 2023-24.

That run of seven losses and two draws includes series defeats to England and Australia, two defeats against India and three against the West Indies. 

“You want to win every game you play; we are certainly trying to win every game we play, we should have won a series tonight, but we didn’t,” Walter said. 

“It really is about putting the pieces of the puzzle together and improving our performances as a unit.

“The guys who have been given a bit of exposure to quality opposition have to perform the next time they get a chance so that those collective performances turn into winning games of cricket.”