Nkwe hopeful most Proteas players will be available for 2027

Director of cricket Enoch Nkwe hopes the majority of the current Proteas squad will be available for the 2027 tournament to be hosted in SA, but says Cricket SA (CSA) will need to be flexible about how it manages the players’ schedule. 

The Proteas’ run to the semifinal of this year’s tournament has come as a surprise to many — including viewers in SA — and CSA will hope it can use it as a basis for the 2027 campaign. Nkwe and CSA CEO Pholetsi Moseki have made it their priority to win that tournament.

“We would love the current squad with a couple of other players to be part of 2027. We have spoken extensively with players over the past year so they are well aware of the big picture,” said Nkwe, who joined the Proteas touring party in Kolkata in India last week.

With cricket’s changing landscape — notably the creation of more T20 leagues and the likely expansion in the next four years of the sport’s biggest tournament, the Indian Premier League — players will increasingly be under pressure about what to prioritise, including when they will play for their country.

Cricket SA’s own event, the SA20, in which it holds a majority stake, will be removing players from national duty in February when the Proteas are due to face New Zealand in a two-match Test series. 

“We are not coming with a fixed mindset. We are open to the new world,” said Nkwe.

Though he accepts  there can’t be guarantees from any of the players, Nkwe said he was confident that many of the top names would be available in 2027. 

“We are hoping the majority of the marquee players will be available for 2027. Most of them are in their 30s. When I engage with them, they are so hungry for silverware for SA. It’s an opportunity to end their career at home, with the opportunity that we are going to win it.”

Nkwe mentioned the likes of David Miller, who will be 37 when SA hosts the World Cup, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada, Temba Bavuma and even Quinton de Kock — who announced his retirement from the ODI format at the end of this World Cup — as players whose playing time will be strategically managed in the next few years. 

“Post-World Cup I would like to engage with them in terms of the future. We are going to have to work on the short term. The leagues are there and how we work together to ensure player management becomes clear.”