Of all the nations contesting the cricket Women’s World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, the Proteas have arguably had the most compelling journey so far.
After suffering an embarrassing loss to England in their round-robin opener, Laura Wolvaardt’s team have claimed impressive wins over New Zealand and hosts India.
The double triumph has jolted their campaign in the right direction as they approach Monday’s game against Bangladesh in Visakhapatnam (from 11.30am).
The batters have recovered from their horror show against England, with Tazmin Brits making a century against New Zealand and captain Laura Wolvaardt getting 70 against India.
And then, also against India, all-rounder Nadine de Klerk lit up the World Cup with a heroic, unbeaten 84 off only 54 balls (eight fours, five sixes).
Chloe Tryon has displayed good form with both bat and ball for the Proteas, and the squad appears to be on an upward curve as they pursue a semifinal berth.
Seamer Tumi Sekhukhune missed the first two matches of the tournament and then returned tidy figures of 1/29 in six overs against India, claiming the scalp of opener Pratika Rawal.
Medium-pacer Sekhukhune realises she’s not likely to be bowling teams out; her job is to put the skids on the opposition run-rate.
“I try to bowl my variations as much as possible; that’s my game plan,” Sekhukhune said.
“I see how the change-ups can work for me.
“The coaches spoke about how that would be crucial for me. I don’t have so much pace, so that works well for me.
“With me coming in, I just want to stick to limiting the runs. I don’t focus too much on getting wickets. I just want to be consistent and bowl my lines and lengths. If I do pick up wickets, then it’s a win for me.”
She said the players had been buoyed by recent results but would not get ahead of themselves.
“The team is super excited. We are looking forward to all these other games.
“We took the win, but we don’t want to dwell on it. We want to focus on the other matches, which are as important as the one we played against India.
“It's going to be a tough match against Bangladesh. We know they are going to come with many slow bowlers. We want to take it one step at a time. Just keep ticking all the boxes.”
Bangladesh started the tournament well by beating Pakistan, but have since slipped to defeats against England and New Zealand.
They will be after a change in fortunes, similar to what the Proteas have engineered.
• Meanwhile, star SA spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba has been reprimanded for breaching level 1 of the ICC code of conduct during the league match against India on Thursday.
Mlaba was found to have breached article 2.5, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an international match”.
The incident occurred in the 17th over of India’s innings when Mlaba, after dismissing Harleen Deol, waved goodbye to the batter, which could have provoked an aggressive response from the batter.
Mlaba admitted the offence and accepted the sanction. — Additional reporting by ICC Media
The Herald
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