Focus on 2027 ODI WC and No. 1 Test spot as Conrad and Walter take charge of South Africa

Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter will begin work as South Africa's red and white-ball coaches respectively on February 1, with an interim arrangement to be made for the World Cup Super League ODIs against England later this month.As reported by ESPNcricinfo , Conrad and Walter were preferred from a shortlist that included interim coach Malibongwe Maketa, former West Indies director of cricket Richard Pybus, former national assistant coach Adrian Birrell, who applied for the Test role only, and Lance Klusener, who withdrew his interest in the white-ball job last week. Conrad and Walter have been appointed on four-year contracts with the aim of reaching a World Test Championship (WTC) final in that time and winning the ODI World Cup at home in 2027."It's a massive goal, a massive milestone for us as a country. It is a must-win. All the investment, all the energies, all the focus are going to be geared towards 2027," Enoch Nkwe, CSA's director of cricket (DOC), said. "We have opportunities along the way to build better systems to give us the best chance. We have opportunities at T20 World Cups, Champions Trophies and Test Championships but our focus is the 2027 World Cup."South Africa face qualification challenge for 2023 ODI World Cup Before that, South Africa have plenty to do, starting with securing their spots at the 2023 ODI World Cup. They remain out of the top eight and have only five matches remaining, having forfeited games in Australia to have the top players around for the inaugural SA20 league. Of those five, South Africa must win at least three to avoid travelling to Zimbabwe for the qualifiers in June.CSA's leadership is understood to believe qualification for the 2023 World Cup is non-negotiable but, as long as South Africa get to the tournament, they will not place extra pressure or performance criteria on the new coaching staff at the tournament."We are not going to strictly judge them on the 2023 World Cup. We understand what has transpired before that and we complicated our journey to the 2023 World C