Proteas whiteball coach Rob Walter has had an up and down spell with results. BackpagePix
FOLLOWING South Africa’s recent two losses against New Zealand and Pakistan respectively in Lahore and Karachi earlier this week, the heat on limited-overs coach Rob Walter has gotten hotter.
Walter's One Day International record does not make for pretty reading, having lost six consecutive matches including a whitewash to Pakistan here at home during the festive season, making it now eight losses in 11 matches since the start of 2024.
In today's world, Walter's head would have been on the chopping block long ago given the little time professional coaches get to build teams across sporting codes.
Perhaps the only reason behind Walter retaining his position after such dismal results is that Enoch Nkwe is the director of national teams and has high performance.
With Nkwe having an extensive coaching resume himself, cricketing reasons have prevailed and the outside noise has had very little impact on the decision-making surrounding the white ball teams.
A deeper look into Walter's time with the Proteas suggests that the man has simply played the cards he has been dealt.
The 49-year-old has not had a full-strength ODI team playing in bilateral series for a long time for a host of different reasons.
Firstly, the Test team's ambitions to make the World Test Championship in London in June had to take precedence.
As a result, Walter took an inexperienced team to face off against Afghanistan in the UAE and lost the three-match series 2-1.
Secondly, South Africa's fast bowling group suffered a number of injuries with Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger, Anrich Nortje, Lizaad Williams, Ottneil Baartman, Wiaan Mulder and Gerald Coetzee missing out on the series whitewash in Pakistan's hands in December.
In this period, Walter has had to make do with what the inexperienced players he had at his disposal and though losses will always be tough to accept, the 49-year-old's returns are understandable.
If anything, Walter's performance as a coach should be judged on world events where he mostly has had full-strength squads consistently.
He led South Africa to the 2023 ICC World Cup semi-final in India and to the country's first-ever final during the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup in the US and Caribbean.
The returns in the world events suggest that Walter has been successful when it matters most.