Proteas coach Rob Walter liked what he saw from the less-experienced players in his squad, following the completion of their One-Day International series against Ireland, in Abu Dhabi, on Monday.
Having sealed the three-match series with a game to spare, South Africa went down in the dead rubber by 69 runs to Ireland. The highlight was undoubtedly the 91 scored by Jason Smith in just his second game in the format, following his duck on debut last month against Afghanistan.
Overall though, it was still an encouraging result after South Africa had lost to Afghanistan in their ODI series last month. Before the 50-over series against Ireland, South Africa were left disappointed with their 1-1 draw from their two T20 Internationals against the Europeans.
To respond in such emphatic with completely dominant wins in the first two matches was something to build on with the inexperienced squad used by the Proteas.
Proteas coach Rob Walter liked what he saw from the less-experienced players in his squad, following the completion of their One-Day International series against Ireland, in Abu Dhabi, on Monday.
— IOL Sport (@IOLsport) October 8, 2024
Video: Cricket SA pic.twitter.com/0BHLVfYOrc
Singing the praises
“Yeah look I think the bowling unit bowled very well this whole series. We learned tonight, that bowling at night there was a little bit more in it for the bowling unit, but I thought the guys used those conditions very well in the first two games,” said Walter.
“We saw some nice batting contributions throughout. From guys who were sort of early on in their international career, even though Tristan’s [Stubbs] been around for a while. In ODI cricket he is still very young. In the second game in particular, it was a very measured innings.”
Though Stubbs is already a fixture in the Proteas T20I team, he is yet to cement his place in the ODI side.
In fact, while Stubbs has already played 31 T20Is for the Proteas, the 24-year-old has only managed seven ODIs for South Africa.
With Stubbs combining with some of the other fringe players, it was a source of optimism for Walter.
“We had some nice partnerships between Ryan Rickelton and Stubbo in game one. They're two young guys very early on in their ODI career. Getting in, in tricky conditions, and the team under pressure were able to bat their way out of it.
“Obviously winning the series is also always positive. We'd have loved to have finished the series off tonight with three wins. But unfortunately we just got behind the eight ball from a batting point of view early and then we struggled throughout.”