South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen (left), Aiden Markram (top) and Quinton de Kock play football during a practice. File Picture: REUTERS, Adnan Abidi
PROTEAS coach Rob Walter says his team can win this year’s T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies.
This, despite South Africa entering the tournament on the back of a 3-0 T20I series defeat to the West Indies.
It must be said, though, that SA played the series with a weakened team and that captain Aiden Markram was among those still playing in the India Premier League (IPL) at the time.
Of what they can take out of that series defeat in Jamaica, Walter says: “It was a tough one, both teams were missing key players.
“But it was a great opportunity for the younger guys that came in. These tours are never unnecessary.”
SA should be at full-strength when they take on Sri Lanka in New York in their tournament opener next Monday.
Asked if they could win the tournament, Walter has no doubt and says: “I absolutely believe we can win the World Cup, I believe we’ve got the players to do that.
“There are other teams that are in a similar position to us [in terms of not having their top players available for warm-up matches], so we can’t bemoan our position. We have to focus on what is in front of us.”
Semi-finalists in 2009 and 2014, SA are in Group D alongside Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal.