Dugout duel in focus for Harare tri-series decider

Maybe Rob Walter didn't deserve all the criticism that came his way as South Africa's white-ball coach. Maybe Shukri Conrad isn't quite the coach from heaven.

Although Walter took South Africa to their only senior men's World Cup final - of the 2024 T20I edition in Barbados - he copped flak for his teams' shaky bilateral record, which was all but assured because key players were often unavailable due to franchise commitments. In all, South Africa won 19 of their 36 ODIs and 14 of their 31 T20Is under Walter.

Conrad, who took over after Walter resigned in April, has rightfully been lauded for guiding South Africa to the WTC title - which they won by beating Australia in the final at Lord's last month.

Hence the narrative that Walter, who is now New Zealand's coach, isn't as good as Conrad. The Zimbabwe-South Africa-New Zealand T20I tri-series in Harare has upended that notion.

Walter's charges have won all four of their games going into Saturday's final against Conrad's South Africans - who duly did the double against the hosts but were beaten convincingly by the Kiwis both times.

One illustration of the point is that the New Zealanders have scored five half-centuries in the tournament compared to South Africa's two. Another is that six of the leading 10 bowling economy rates in the competition belong to Kiwis, and only three to South Africans.

The Black Caps have played assured, slick, serious cricket. The Proteas, by contrast, have looked like a team feeling their way through a series of trials and errors.

It's true that Conrad is taking charge of a South Africa white-ball side for the first time, so maybe he should be cut some slack. But it's just as true that Walter is in a New Zealand dressingroom of any kind for the first time as a head coach.

So while cricket is mostly about what happens on the field, in this case it's also about the dugout duel. Happily, Conrad and Walter get on well from their days in their respective South Africa tracksuits. That means there's no chance of the kind of opprobrium that used to prevail between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger in football's English Premier League. Also, the tri-series is nothing more than a blip on world cricket's radar.

But Conrad and Walter wouldn't be human if they didn't bring their pride as professionals to Saturday's showdown.

Even if they like each other, and even if precious few know or care about what's been going on at Harare Sports Club these past dozen days, nobody likes to lose.

When: July 26, 2025; 1 PM Local Time (11 AM GMT, 4.30 PM IST)

Where: Harare Sports Club

What to expect: A cool, mostly clear day. And a pitch that has yielded first innings of at least 150 - without getting to 200 - just twice in the six games played in the tournament.

Team News:

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Rubin Hermann, Andile Simelane and Gerald Coetzee might have other matters on their minds. They were all in Harare but weren't named when the squads for a white-ball tour to Australia next month were announced on Thursday.

Possible XI: Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Reeza Hendricks, Rubin Hermann, Dewald Brevis, Rassie van der Dussen (c), Corbin Bosch, George Linde, Gerald Coetzee, Nqaba Peter, Lungi Ngidi, Kwena Maphaka.

New Zealand: Tim Seifert's fiery form could be the key point of difference between the sides.

Possible XI: Tim Seifert, Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Zakary Foulkes, Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke.

What they said:

"I'm not making light of any of the other games, but I think the final will give us a really good idea of where everybody's at." - Shukri Conrad hopes to learn a lot from the decider.

"Winning the games is great, but the big thing for us is that everyone's chipping in. There's always been someone different winning us the game." - Tim Seifert lauds the Kiwis' brand of socialism.