With a 50-over World Cup coming to South Africa in 2027 – when Tahir will be 48 – Friend said the relevance of the domestic 50-over competition could not be higher. “The One Day Cup is a huge competition domestically, and if you look at how Cricket South Africa are trying to build a squad for the World Cup next year, it’s crucial that the players understand the 50-over format.
“I think it’s a fantastic format, and building up to that World Cup it’s really important that we can focus on the things we want to achieve as a nation at that tournament. From a CSA perspective, the One Day Cup is massive for domestic cricket and is definitely one of those competitions that everyone wants to win.”
Most of the players representing South Africa at the ongoing T20 World Cup will not be travelling to New Zealand, where they will be led by Keshav Maharaj, a Dolphins player himself. The others from Dolphins in the touring party are Nqobani Mokoena, Ottneil Baartman, Prenelan Subrayen, Eathan Bosch, Andile Simelane and Jason Smith. All of them bar Maharaj and Smith are in the squad for the season opener.
“It’s going to be huge for us to lose that many players but, in saying that, we are extremely proud of those players. I want to say well done to them because they’ve done exceptionally well and are reaping the rewards,” Friend said. “We will be challenged by this, but we are embracing that, and we’ve done a lot of work over the last two years with our pipeline to get players up to a level where they can compete and win matches for us.
“The expectation is always to go out and win this trophy and find consistency in the competition. We need to find a way to put together a team that can win games, and that’s an exciting challenge for us.”
Dolphins One Day Cup squad
Andile Simelane, Marques Ackerman, Imran Tahir, Prenelan Subrayen (capt), Eathan Bosch, Nqobani Mokoena, Khaya Zondo, Slade van Staden, Hanu Viljoen, Romashan Pillay, Tristan Luus, Jon-Jon Smuts, Ottniel Baartman, Tshepang Dithole
