Walter argued that this is the inevitable consequence of trying to deepen the player pool.
Since Walter took over in February 2023, South Africa have played seven bilateral T20I series and have not won any of them, which he acknowledged is “incredibly difficult” to accept. But it may be easier knowing that he is also the only coach to have led the men’s team to the final of a major tournament, in this year’s T20 World Cup.
When asked to explain the discrepancy between his bilateral form and tournament success, Walter didn’t miss a beat. “The easy answer is that when we go to world tournaments, we pick our best 15 players, but we can’t pick those same 15 players every time we play. It’s just not feasible. It’s just too much cricket. So the rest of the time “We have to build our player base to be at the same level, which is what you are seeing with the Indian team, right?”
Only four of the XI that won the T20 World Cup in June were part of the Indian team that beat South Africa in this series, which speaks both to the quality of their depth and the concern with South Africa and Walter acknowledged that .
“Their fringe players are stepping up and creating pressure on the guys who are in the main eleven,” he said. “Ultimately, if you look at the statistics on the number of players used by the different international teams, they are all in the same space for the last two years, between 30 and 36 players approximately. They are all trying to do the same thing because in In reality, the cricket landscape is the same for everyone.
And that is where you may be corrected, to some extent. India is the only country that does not have to worry about losing players to franchised leagues because they do not allow their active players to compete anywhere other than the IPL, which offers sufficient compensation. South Africa, whose local currency, the rand, is the weakest among SENA countries, is particularly at risk of its players opting for hard currency payments in overseas leagues, with the two biggest examples being Nortje and Shamsi. Both opted not to sign central contracts this year (Nortje partly because he wanted to manage what formats he would play when he returned from a serious injury) and although they are available for South Africa, it is also necessary to look elsewhere.
“I certainly wouldn’t doubt a guy like Anrich wanting to play for South Africa and his commitment to do so. But he made a personal decision about the contract so he could stop playing Test cricket for a while. I think it was physically a bit difficult for him to do everything.” and I respect that,” Walter said. “At the end of the day, when it comes to world tournaments, we want to pick our best team. And if it is one of those best players, we consider it. Shammo has done exactly the same. We need to be aware of what is happening in world cricket “It’s not easy and the national team is competing in franchise cricket, not international cricket. That’s the reality we live in.”
There was an audible sigh before he finished that thought. “And so, again, the balancing act continues.”
