South Africa will find a way to "pull together" for the Champions Trophy 2025 after suffering their first ODI whitewash at home and without any more match practice with a full-strength squad ahead of the tournament, according to white-ball coach Rob Walter.
After overseeing the 3-0 defeat to Pakistan, Walter has been left with an ODI record of two series wins from six but does not think bilateral form accurately reflects what the team is capable of at major tournaments. "I know they'll shine through when it comes to these world events, these marquee events. The guys tend to step up. They tend to bring their best cricket," Walter said at the Wanderers. "We've seen that for two World Cups in a row."
In June, South Africa reached the T20 World Cup final with no bilateral series wins from four attempts under Walter and with the entire squad only convening two days before the event started, with players traveling from the IPL. And last November, South Africa reached the ODI World Cup semi-final, with limited ODI game time under their belt. They drew a series against West Indies in March 2023 and then came from 2-0 down to beat Australia 3-2 in September just before the tournament.
This time, they also have fixtures on the eve of the Champions Trophy - a tri-series in Pakistan - but will not be able to have all their first-choice players available as some will be competing in the final stages of the SA20. Walter understands that could pose a challenge.
"The reality is the lead up into the Champions Trophy won't be anything, like the lead up to the World Cup. That's the reality of the way the schedule is stacked up. But at the end of the day, I've just got to trust in the quality of the players," he said. "Obviously, the switching in codes will potentially pose a little bit of a challenge to us. But again, it's not like the guys have not played 50-over cricket. So I trust that when the time comes, we'll be there."
"As a batting unit, we've spoken about someone taking pride in getting in and getting a big hundred and to be fair, we just haven't been able to convert anything into really substantial knocks or partnerships in this series," he said. "It's not like we're unaware. Some of it is down to batting error and others down to bowling quality and we also have to acknowledge that."
He appeared to back Tony de Zorzi as Temba Bavuma's opening partner, though there is also the option of Ryan Rickelton.
