The winner of South Africa’s clash against England tomorrow could take control of Group B, and already seal a spot in the semifinals of the Women’s T20 World Cup.
In what was considered the easier of the two groups, the Proteas took an enormous step towards the playoffs with their comprehensive 10-wicket triumph against the West Indies on Friday.
That outcome relieved some of the pressure ahead of their match against the in-form English, who are widely considered second favourites for the tournament.
The Proteas will expect to beat both Scotland and Bangladesh, the other teams in the group, but will know that despite the size of the result in their tournament opener, they will have to up the standard of their play several notches against an English team that has lost just two T20 Internationals this year.
Nonkululeko Mlaba, the player of the match on Friday, believes her teammates took their foot off the pedal after the dismissal of the dangerous Deandra Dottin, and said the fielding needed to be improved. “We were too quick to ‘open’ the field for Shemaine Campbell,” she said.
Having reduced the West Indies to 32/3, with both Dottin and Hayley Matthews out — the two players Laura Wolvaardt said were the most prized wickets — South Africa did let the pressure they’d created subside, allowing some easy singles by pushing fielders onto the boundary too soon.
It allowed Campbell and Stafanie Taylor to build a 30-run partnership, which Mlaba ended in an excellent over in which she took two wickets.
Besides letting the pressure slip briefly, South Africa’s fielding continues to veer between superb and sloppy. Tasmin Brits took what will be one of the catches of the competition, giving Mlaba her fourth wicket, when she held on to a low chance in the covers to dismiss Aaliyah Alleyne.
However, the Proteas also dropped two catches, and their overall ground fielding wasn’t up to standard.
West Indies don’t have England’s batting depth, meaning the Proteas need to be switched on for the entire 20 overs in the field.
This is a crucial competition for the English. Under coach Jon Lewis, they have tried to employ a vastly more attacking brand, especially with the bat. Lewis was appointed shortly before last year’s World Cup, when his approach still wasn’t clearly understood by the players.
England suffered a surprising defeat to South Africa in the semifinals of that tournament, but their captain Heather Knight said this week they’d moved on from that result. “I think we learnt a huge amount from that World Cup loss. I think that was the start of us finding out how we want to play our cricket and I think we've refined and evolved that certainly over the last year,” said Knight.
The Proteas have been on a similar journey, albeit not as structured as England’s. And rather than the coach, it’s been the players who’ve tried to define a new playing style, also based especially on being more aggressive with the bat.
A little bit of that style was in evidence on Friday, led by Wolvaardt, who cracked six fours in the batting power-play in which the Proteas scored 43 runs.
Tomorrow’s match will be played in Sharjah, giving England — who played their opening fixture against Bangladesh there last night — a slight advantage about conditions.
While England will be out to avenge that semifinal loss, for South Africa the motivation to finally win a World Cup is strong too. “We’ve failed in the semis a couple of times and we failed in the final last year, so now it’s either win it or not — that’s the mentality of the team now,” said Mlaba.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.