The only thing standing in the way of automatic World Cup qualification for the Proteas is a 3-0 series win for Ireland over Bangladesh in May.
The Proteas have one foot in the door of the Cricket World Cup thanks to a pair of victories over the Dutch to round off their Cricket World Cup Super League campaign.
The Cricket World Cup Super League has not gone to plan for the Proteas who saw a scheduling conflict cost them playing a series in Australia while losses at home to Bangladesh also left them up against it.
For all that it does seem as though the Proteas will now scrape into the tournament and there won’t really be time to learn from this experience.
The Super League concept is set to be either reworked or scrapped and either way, South Africa are set to host the 2027 World Cup and as such would be exempt from the process in any case.
🚨 RESULT | SOUTH AFRICA WIN BY 146 RUNS
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) April 2, 2023
Sisanda Magala's maiden ODI 5-wicket haul complimented the effort with the bat as we dismiss the Netherlands for 224 and win the Betway ODI series 2-0#BetwayPinkODI #SAvNED #BePartOfIt pic.twitter.com/vdQsKzBV3X
The Proteas haven’t yet sealed their place in India, but Ireland will need to be perfect in their home series against Bangladesh if they are to stand a chance of knocking South Africa out of the tournament proper and into the qualifier in Zimbabwe.
Ireland will need a full house of 30 points from the series to draw level with the Proteas and will need to achieve those wins while maintaining a healthy over-rate to avoid a penalty that would rule them out of the running.
Furthermore, Ireland will need to drastically improve their net run rate if they are to swoop in and take the spot at the last minute.
While their only remaining series is designated as a home one, it will be played in England which does mean that Ireland lose a little bit of the edge of being the home board for this series which will make life tougher for them.
All told, Ireland will need something akin to a sporting miracle to pull the rug out from under the Proteas.
