South Africa's David Miller (L) and head coach Rob Walter inspect the pitch during a practice session on the eve of their 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup one-day international (ODI) match against Afghanistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad Proteas coach Rob Walter has made no attempt to downplay the significance of South Africa’s T20 World Cup semi-final against Afghanistan on Thursday. Seen here: Proteas coach Rob Walter (right) with SA batsman David Miller (left).
Image: Sajjad Hussain/AFP
While it’s common to hear teams underplaying a crunch knockout game of a major tournament, that is not the case for Proteas coach Rob Walter ahead of their T20 World Cup semi-final against Afghanistan, in Tarouba, on Thursday.
It’s no secret that the Proteas men’s team have never made it to the final of a Cricket World Cup, and while Walter may have easily adopted the approach of not placing too much significance on the upcoming clash - he and his team are prepared to carry the full weight of an expectant Rainbow Nation.
The Proteas are also on a seven-match winning streak, despite at times not playing their best cricket.
That has meant that South Africa have managed to navigate the high-pressure moments every time, and Walter has taken confidence from those performances.
“It’s never just another game. That sort of rhetoric around semi-finals is trying to downplay the occasion. We don’t do that. It is a semi-final of a World Cup, we appreciate that and we’re looking forward to it,” said Walter.
“We’ve managed to get over the line in quite a number of close games, which as a team has been great for us. We’ve potentially missed out on a few moments like that in the past.
"The near misses in the past, they belong to the people who missed them.”
Though the Proteas are fielding a team with a number of the same players who have experienced World Cup heartbreak like Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada - Walter said the group did not have any issues like that.
"This team is a different team. We own whatever is ours to own. And so, our nearest reflection point is this tournament where we've managed to get over the line. So that's what we think about.”
On what it would be like to make the final of a Cricket World Cup, Walter did not hide his emotion either.
"It's always great to dream and I think everyone in South Africa dreams of the time when a trophy gets lifted.
"No doubt that will happen. Whether it's going to be this week, that remains to be seen. We're just going to try and play the best game of cricket that we can. And we still haven't played our best game yet.”
The form of opener Reeza Hendricks who is coming off scores of 11, 19 and a duck is also not a cause for concern, insisted Walter.
"Reeza's form doesn't bother me at all. He's a quality cricketer,
"It was just three and a half weeks ago that he scored a magnificent 80 against the West Indies [before the World Cup], a man-alone performance, really.
"He's a wonderful cricketer, and good batsmen are just one shot away from contributing to the team, and that's all we are interested in is giving him the freedom to do that.”
The match starts at 2.30am SA time.