Proteas not bothered by training defeat against Australia

Nadine de Klerk said the Proteas were not fazed by their 85-run defeat in the last of three training matches against Australia on Thursday.

The Australians scored 212/6 with Ash Gardner and Georgia Wareham making half-centuries while Ayabonga Khaka picked up 3/27 in three overs. South Africa responded with 127/6, with captain Laura Wolvaardt scoring 47 off 39 balls.

“We were trying a few things, especially with the death bowling,” said de Klerk. “We wanted to try some scenarios, see what might work with certain situations.”

With the bat De Klerk, who made 13 off 16 balls, said she was less interested in blasting sixes and rather wanted time at the crease. “It was a catch-22. The middle order hasn’t spent a lot of time in the middle, so we wanted time at the crease. Chloe (Tryon) and I were speaking about that out there and we felt it would be better to just get some rhythm.”

In recent months Wolvaardt and Sune Luus have been dominant for the Proteas, with De Klerk only facing two balls in the five match series with India. “I understand my role is not high volume, more impact and really bringing an energy and vibe.”

She doesn’t believe the training matches, which were played in Arundel produced any major psychological advantage for either side. South Africa won the first match by seven runs, while the second game was rained out. The teams will face each other in their first match at the World Cup next Saturday in Manchester.

“We all know what they are about. But we’ve changed a lot over the last few years, it’s very different to 2024, when we last played them (in a T20I). We beat them in that game (the world cup semifinal),” said De Klerk.

“(The opening match) will be a really good contest; we didn’t get run over by them, and we will hopefully take a lot of confidence into that first game.”

South Africa travel to Loughborough for the first of two official ICC warm-up matches on Saturday against Ireland and then on Tuesday against the defending champions New Zealand.

The tenth edition of the women’s T20 World Cup starts next Friday (June 12), with hosts England taking on Sri Lanka.

Besides Australia, the Proteas, runners-up in the last two tournaments, also face India, Pakistan, the Netherlands and Bangladesh in Group 1. The top two teams from each group qualify for the semifinals, with the winners of those, playing in the tournament final at Lord’s on July 5.

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