South Africa will face England in the first game of a one-day international series in Bloemfontein on Friday. The Proteas will be looking to put up a solid performance in order to guarantee their spot in the Cricket World Cup in the fall of this year.
The three-match series is a part of the World Cup Super League, which is organised by the International Cricket Council. From this league, the top eight teams will qualify for the World Cup, which will be held in India between the months of October and November.
South Africa needs to win at least three of their remaining five matches in order to move over West Indies, who are currently in ninth place after finishing their schedule. In addition, South Africa must play two matches against the Netherlands.
However, Sri Lanka has a chance to go ahead of the West Indies if they are successful in their final series, which will take place in New Zealand in the month of March.
If South Africa were to win their remaining five games, they would be certain of qualifying for the tournament.
Teams that are not successful in earning a spot at the World Cup automatically will be need to compete in a qualifying event in Zimbabwe over the months of June and July.
Following Mark Boucher’s departure as South Africa’s head coach, the One-Day International series against England takes place during a period of transition for the country.
Rob Walter, the new coach of the white ball team, is now finishing up his responsibilities with Central Districts in New Zealand. Shukri Conrad, who was recently appointed as the coach of the test team, will fill in for Walter for the matches against England.
Conrad said that he was maintaining a tight relationship with Walter. “We have many ideas in common. We engage in discourse on an almost constant basis.”
The South African selectors did not make any changes to their roster for the upcoming series against England, despite the fact that their 50-overs team has been playing poorly and there have been requests for a shakeup.
Conrad said that the team had reached a point of relative stability. They have an understanding of what is expected of them in this series.
When Walter takes over as leader one month from now, there is a good chance that there will be new ways of thinking.
After being placed in charge of an Otago side that had not performed up to its potential, Walter shown in his first coaching post in New Zealand that he is willing to take severe action. In this role, he was appointed because the team had failed to play to its ability.
According to what he said to the Rapport newspaper in South Africa, “I had to take some painful decisions,” which ultimately resulted in the departure of some prominent players.
After scoring the first century in South Africa’s SA20 league on Tuesday night, former captain Faf du Plessis, who is now 38 years old, may have a chance to make a comeback to international cricket in the near future.
But Walter, who worked with Du Plessis when Du Plessis was head coach of the Titans team before he moved to New Zealand in 2016, stated that his first assignment would be to talk to South Africa’s white-ball skipper Temba Bavuma. Bavuma is now playing for the Proteas.
Eight members of England’s squad are currently competing in the South Africa Twenty20 tournament. This includes team captain Jos Buttler, who is the tournament’s leading run-scorer, and fast bowler Jofra Archer, who has been in fine form for the MI Cape Town team during all five matches.
Due to various injuries, Archer has been sidelined from playing for England for close to two years.
The fast bowler indicated to the journalists in Bloemfontein that he was “around 80 percent fit” and that he was no longer concerned that his body was “about to give way.”
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