Cape Town – The Proteas Men’s team’s chances of automatic qualification for the ICC Cup in India later this year received a significant boost on Friday.
The New Zealand Black Caps beat Sri Lanka in the third ODI by six wickets to leave the Asian nation in ninth place with 81 ICC Men’s Super League points.
The Proteas are currently 10th on the points table on 78 points – three points behind Sri Lanka (81) and 10 behind eighth-placed West Indies (88).
Only the top eight teams, including hosts India, on the ICC Super League table qualify automatically for the Men’s Cup in India.
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The remaining teams will have to play in the Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe in June along with five Associate teams. Two teams from the qualifying tournament will then progress to the Cup.
West Indies and Sri Lanka have both completed their allocation of Super League matches.
The Proteas therefore now hold their chances of automatic qualification in their own hands ahead of the two ODIs against the 13th-placed Netherlands in Benoni on Friday and at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.
Even the inclement weather on the East Rand predicted for Friday should not affect the Proteas’ chances overtly.
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The Proteas would receive five points in the case of an abandoned/washed out match at Willowmoore Park.
This would take the Proteas up to 83 points, surpassing Sri Lanka in the process, ahead of the final match at the Bullring on Sunday.
A win over the Dutch in the “Pink ODI” would garner a further 10 points which would take the Proteas up to a potential 93 which would guarantee automatic qualification.
Even a successive rained out match at the Wanderers would take the Proteas up to 88 points – level with West Indies – but Rob Walter’s team would still qualify as they have a superior net run-rate to the Windies.
The Proteas have been guilty of a slow over-rate in previous matches and have dropped two valuable log points and should be wary of such circumstances if they do indeed get on the field this weekend.
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