Walter not despondent after Proteas’ series loss to Afghanistan

Rob Walter described the series defeat to Afghanistan as “disappointing” but stuck to his mantra that South Africa’s fringe players would be better for the experience. 

The Proteas comfortably won a dead rubber encounter in Sharjah on Sunday, with the bowlers delivering with accuracy, the fielding precise and the batting for the most part proficient. But a 2-1 series defeat still stings. 

“We can only get better if we are exposed to [tough] conditions. Hopefully this is a catalyst for us getting better and the depth stronger,” said Walter.

The fairly inexperienced Proteas were always going to find the going hard against Afghanistan, who were perfectly set up to take advantage of pitches on which the ball skid and spun. That they would be quite so far off the mark, as was the case in the first two matches, was surprising. 

Walter again pointed to the lack of proper footage of Allah Ghaznafar, the Afghanistan off-spinner, who rocked the Proteas in the first game, as a reason for their problems in the opener. The spinning tracks also played a part in aiding Rashid Khan, who claimed five wickets in the second match. 

However, against Fazalhaq Farooqi, Afghanistan’s left-arm seamer, who picked up four wickets in the first match, the batters also struggled, suggesting a wider issue, about how they are planning their innings’. 

Walter said he wasn’t too concerned with how the batters played spin, pointing to South Africa having a good record against spin in the past two years, when the more experienced players such as David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen were in the picture. 

“There's a group of players who are experienced and have been the bedrock of the batting line-up; now we have different players stepping in that space and are working hard at playing spin,” he said. 

Nevertheless, that 16 of the 23 wickets taken by Afghanistan went to their spinners illustrates more work needs to be done if South Africa's next best are to become proficient against slow bowlers.

As for the more experienced players who have continued to be given opportunities, the signs should be concerning. Reeza Hendricks finished the series, scoring only 44 runs in three innings, with his strike rate of 57.14 showing how much he struggled. 

It is hard to see how he could make it into the squad for next year’s Champions Trophy, especially given the options available at the top of the order. 

Though Andile Phehlukwayo picked up two crucial wickets in Sunday’s clash, all that did was highlight his continuing inconsistency which, given he has more than 120 international caps, should be absent from his game at this stage of his career. 

Players who made progress in Sharjah include Tony de Zorzi, who got a few good starts, but didn’t push on, Tristan Stubbs, who batted his way to an unbeaten 26 on Sunday, and Bjorn Fortuin, who despite only picking up three wickets, provided a modicum of control. 

Walter also highlighted the performances of leg-spinner Nqaba Peter, who finished the series with three wickets and showed how quickly he had taken on board lessons from game two into the third match.   

“We are not casting the net too wide. We still want to ensure that in gaining experience we are doing so in a measured fashion, so we are not handing out too many caps to too many players, but building on the experience the guys have gained out of these matches. Hopefully they take these experiences into the Ireland series,” said Walter.

The first of two T20 Internationals against Ireland will be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday.