On Tuesday morning Proteas white-ball coach, Rob Walter, will be announcing the squad that will compete in the ICC Cricket World Cup in India later in the year.

The Proteas arrived in Bloemfontein on Monday for the first two One-Day Internationals against Australia and the announcement will be made at Grey College.

The ODI series will be used to prepare for the World Cup as the Proteas have just seven games to prepare for the global showpiece in India. South Africa will face Australia in a series of five ODI’s, while they will play against Afghanistan and New Zealand in India in two warm-up games.

Walter has held his card close to his chest, but indicated that tough decisions needed to be made. He indicated that not all of the youngers trialled in the three-match T20 International series will crack the nod.

“The World Cup announcement is significant,” said Walter.

“Whenever you’re announcing a squad, be it for a series or for a World Cup, there’s always tough calls that have to be made.

“The better your system is producing, the better the player that will be missing out, if that makes sense. 

“If we've got good players missing out, it means our system is strong, it means our group of players are strong. We are not there yet, as we learnt in the T20 International series.”

It is believed that the Bloemfontein local Gerald Coetzee, who know plays for the Titans, will be among those names read out by Walter, however, the Dewald Brevis, Donovan Ferreira, Tristan Stubbs and Matthew Breetzke, will not be boarding the flight to India.

Walter added that the five matches against Australia will be used to fine-tune for the World Cup.

“The core of the group knows who they are and we have been together for a fairly decent period of time.

“To nestle in to what our squad looks like and then to compete in the five-match series, gives us an opportunity to just lay down the game as we have been trying the whole time. We're looking forward to it.”

The World Cup squad will be announced on Tuesday morning at 11:00.

The 1st ODI between South Africa and Australia will be played on Thursday at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport