Newly appointed Proteas white-ball coach, Rob Walter, says he plans on turning South Africa from a “good cricket team” to a “great team!” when he takes charge of the ODI and T20I teams against the West Indies later this month.
Walter, who was revealed as the new man in charge in January, began his role on the 1st of February and has selected two competitive squads to face the Windies.
In addition to that, Walter has also named Aiden Markram as the T20I captain after Temba Bavuma relinquished the role and was also left out of the side.
“Aiden has shown himself to be a leader for a period of time now; obviously, his most recent success with the Sunrisers stands out,” said Walter.
“It seemed like just a logical progression into the leadership of the national side.”
“He’s been there before, but I think he’s matured a lot as a player and as a leader since then; he’s certainly a leader in the group, and he’s been for a long time.”
The 47-year-old, who left South Africa to improve his coaching skills and discover himself in New Zealand after an impressive spell with the Titans, added that taking the role was a “no-brainer” as he’s always wanted to coach the country of his birth.
“It’s fairly simple when you get an opportunity to coach your country of birth, which is a place where the cricket structures I’ve been a part of for pretty much my whole life, so, when that opportunity arrives, it is a no-brainer,” he said.
“To coach internationally is probably every coach’s dream, and when I left for New Zealand, it was to grow myself as a coach and develop my skills and grow as a person, which has certainly happened in the past 7 years.”
Walter’s ODI team is a rich one, and four players receive their maiden ODI call-ups. Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, and Tristan Stubbs are the players called up while Ryan Rickelton makes a return to the side.
Walter says the players must bring their own set of skills to the park.
“You’ve seen a few new faces in these squads, which are part of the process to broaden the base of players that have international experience, given that the World Cup is this year,” he said.
“As far as how we wanna play the game, I think you probably got a little window into it against England, certainly that was a blueprint for how we wanna move forward with the way we play the game.”
“We’ll just continue on that, and the task for the new guys coming into the side will be to find their way, and bring their own set of skills into the park.”
Proteas ODI and T20I fixtures against the West Indies:
Thursday, 16 March at 13:00
South Africa vs West Indies – Buffalo Park, East London
Saturday, 18 March at 13:00
South Africa vs West Indies – Buffalo Park, East London
Tuesday, 21 March at 10:00
South Africa vs West Indies – JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom
Saturday, 25 March at 14:00
South Africa vs West Indies – SuperSport Park, Centurion
Sunday, 26 March at 14:00
South Africa vs West Indies – SuperSport Park, Centurion
Tuesday, 28 March at 18:00
South Africa vs West Indies – DP World Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
