During the match against New Zealand, the fielding coach for South Africa had to enter as a substitute fielder.
In the rarest of rare cricketing events, a coach was forced to step in as a substitute fielder for his team. The unusual development occurred during South Africa’s ODI tri-series match against New Zealand on Monday. With South Africa badly low in desirable players, fielding coach Wandile Gwavu was forced to step on the field and stand in for another player for a short period of time. With a significant number of South African players absent owing to SA20 obligations, the country could only field a 12-man squad for the tri-series. As a result, the fielding coach was forced to fill in as a substitute fielder for a short time.
In the 37th over of New Zealand’s batting, Gwavu was seen on the field. With curiosity about what had transpired, the cameras immediately centered on the Proteas fielding coach. Fans debated the strange move on social media, making the incident a major discussion point.
South Africa had to draw heavily from their reserves for the tri-series in Pakistan, using up to six uncapped players in a 12-man lineup for the opening game. Heinrich Klaasen and Keshav Maharaj, two of the team’s best players, will return before of their match against Pakistan on Wednesday (February 12), after missing time due to SA20 obligations.
The necessity for a Proteas coach to work as a player is not new. Similar to this, during an ODI match against Ireland last year, South Africa’s batting coach JP Duminy entered the game as a substitute fielder when several of his players were ill.Regarding the game, New Zealand chose to field against South Africa after winning the toss. The choice made by Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner appeared to be against them in the first inning, but New Zealand produced a strong comeback with the aid of Williamson’s undefeated century, which enabled the Kiwis to defeat the Proteas by six wickets.
As the Kiwis chased down the goal of 305 runs to claim their second consecutive victory of the tri-series, Williamson scored an undefeated knock of 133 in just 113 balls. Williamson also hit 7000 runs in ODI cricket with the knock.
