Zaahier Adams
Rob Walter is a good human being. He greets each member of the media personally before an engagement. He checks up on how you’re doing, asks about your family, and seems genuinely interested in your life.
That’s, of course, is not his job though. He picks cricket teams with the intention of winning matches. Under the current structure, he is solely responsible for both these tasks due to Cricket South Africa having done away with the conventional structure that comprises a group of selectors headed by a convenor. In simple terms, the buck stops with Walter.
It was not so long ago that Walter came within touching distance of becoming the first Proteas coach to lead the men’s team to the holy grail of a T20 World Cup trophy. He is already the only coach ever to have guided the Proteas past a World Cup semi-final. On the basis of this, Walter would have believed that he had done enough to be granted indemnity for some time.
But that’s simply not how professional sport works. It’s all about the last result. And Walter need not look too far either to see how former England white-ball coach Matthew Mott had his four-year contract terminated midway through despite presiding over England’s 2022 T20 World Cup triumph.
So, the fact that the Proteas have not won a bilateral T20I series under Walter since his appointment last March places the former Titans coach under severe strain heading into the home international summer. He certainly admitted as much after the record defeat to India at the Wanderers on Friday evening.
"Every coach takes great pride in the work that they produce. Ultimately, the performance of the team rests with me. I'm the head coach, so I'm responsible for that. To lose series, to lose games, it never sits well,” Walter said.
“Losing a series is not what we want to stamp our name on. I want the team to be better, and it starts with me being better for the team."
Good intentions were failed by a lack of perspective when I said on a platform that, ‘I don’t see colour’. In my ignorance, I silenced the struggles of others by placing my own view on it. – Faf du Plessis
These are all noble words. And for the record, I feel that Walter means every one of them.
My greater concern is whether Walter fully understands the nuances of coaching a national sports team in South Africa and the sensitivities related to transformation. It’s much the same as when former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis stated: “We don’t see colour” and that “colour is irrelevant” after the dropping of Temba Bavuma from the Test side a few years ago.
Du Plessis’ intentions were never one of malice, but after some introspection, he later publicly apologised by saying: “I have gotten it wrong before.
“Good intentions were failed by a lack of perspective when I said on a platform that, ‘I don’t see colour’. In my ignorance, I silenced the struggles of others by placing my own view on it.”
I feel Walter has found himself in the eye of a similar storm. Asked about the omission of coloured seam bowler Ottneil Baartman from the entire T20I series despite being the leading bowler in SA20 the past two seasons, Walter’s reply lacked the necessary emotional intelligence, thus creating plenty of resentment on social media.
"We are giving exposure to (Lutho) Sipamla from a bowling point of view, Peter (Nqaba) before that. We are trying to move the team forward. Everyone needs to play their part in terms of transforming this team and make it more representative," he said.
Walter’s absolutely right that “everyone needs to play their part in terms of transforming this team and make it more representative”, but to single out two young black African players in this manner does not breed an element of trust within the dressing room, especially when a young white fast bowler, Gerald Coetzee, was also conceding 11.14 runs to the over during the series.
Again, he may not have meant it in this manner, but to intimate that Baartman could only replace the two Black African players and not the white fast bowler takes South African cricket back to the dark ages. Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus’ arguably greatest victory may be the fact that he has created the blueprint for all South African sports coaches that being successful on the pitch while creating an inclusive, encompassing system for all players can be attained.
Walter, who is an ardent Bok supporter despite still living in New Zealand, may just need to call Rassie up for some timely advice on how best to embrace and not fear the challenge of coaching a national team in South Africa sooner rather than later.