Johannesburg [South Africa], December 23 (ANI): South Africa white-ball coach Rob Walter on Monday said that his side will “step up” for the Champions Trophy 2025 after the ODI whitewash to Pakistan, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.
Ayub was one of the frontline stars for Pakistan, with two brilliant centuries, including one in the third ODI, as it completed its first-ever clean sweep series win in South Africa after a win in the third and final ODI at Johannesburg on Monday.
The complete schedule for the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 will be announced in due course, according to the ICC.
Speaking after the match, Walter said that the Proteas will shine when it comes to these world events.
“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. We’ve seen that for two World Cups in a row,” Walter was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
The white-ball head coach added that he just got to trust in the quality of the players.
“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. 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-odd cricket. So I trust that when the time comes, we’ll be there,” he added.
He accepted that the Proteas batters made some errors in the third ODI match of the series against Pakistan.
“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. 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 further added.
South Africa won the toss and elected to field first. After the fall of Abdullah Shafique for a duck, a 115-run stand between Ayub (101 in 94 balls, with 13 fours and two sixes) and Babar Azam (52 in 71 balls, with seven fours) and a 93-run stand for the third-wicket between Ayub and Rizwan (53 in 52 balls, with five fours and a six) served as major highlights as Pakistan reached a challenging total of 308/9 in 50 overs.
Kagiso Rabada (3/56 in 10 overs) was the top bowler for Proteas. Marco Jansen and Bjorn Fortuin also got two wickets.
In reply, Proteas lost wickets at regular intervals. Heinrich Klaasen (81 in 43 balls, with 12 fours and two sixes) once again remained a lone warrior with third successive fifty as Temba Bavuma (8), Tony de Zorzi (26 in 23 balls, with two fours and two sixes), Aiden Markram (19 in 26 balls, with three fours), Rassie Van Der Dussen (35 in 52 balls, with four boundaries and a six) and David Miller (3) failed to support him with enough runs. Corbin Bosch (40* in 44 balls, with five fours) was left stranded with Proteas bundled out for 271/10 in 42 overs.
Spinner Sufiyan Muqeem (4/52) was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan, while Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi also got two wickets.
Ayub took home the ‘Player of the Match’ and ‘Player of the Series’ awards. (ANI)
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