Cape Town - The Proteas Men’s team’s chances of automatic qualification for the ICC World 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 World Cup in India.
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The remaining teams will have to play in the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe in June along with five Associate teams. Two teams from the qualifying tournament will then progress to the World Cup.
West Indies and Sri Lanka have both completed their allocation of Super League matches.
The Proteas chances have therefore increased ahead of the two ODIs against the 13th-placed Netherlands in Benoni on Friday and at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday.
There is, however, inclement weather predicted for the East Rand on Friday.
In the case of an abandoned/washed out match at Willowmoore Park the Proteas and the Dutch would receive five points each.
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 could take the Proteas up to a potential 93 which would guarantee automatic qualification.
A successive rained out match at the Wanderers would take the Proteas up to 88 points - level with West Indies - although Rob Walter’s team would have a superior net run-rate.
However, the Proteas would then have to wait for the conclusion of the Ireland and Bangladesh ODI series in May for the World Cup qualification status.
Ireland are currently in 11th place with 68 points, but can gain a further 30 points by beating Bangladesh 3-0 to take them up to a potential 98 points which could force the Proteas to head to Zimbabwe for the qualifying series.
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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