Border bowler upbeat about SA’s chances
WOMEN’S cricket reaches fever pitch today when the Proteas take on Sri Lanka in a massive match in the Proteas quest to qualify for the World Cup semifinals.
It has been a fantastic tournament for the Proteas so far as they have picked up three wins and one loss, while one match was aandoned, leaving them just outside the top four on the log on net run rate.
The top four teams will move on to the semifinals at the end of the round robin phase and the Proteas have an excellent chance of doing that.
“From what I have seen so far we are preparing to win the World Cup. We are still working towards that goal and we have a great chance of winning it,” said Proteas bowler Ayabonga Khaka.
Khaka is the only Border player in the Proteas squad and has started in every match of the competition so far.
Having picked up two thumping wins over India and Sri Lanka, and a tight opening win over Pakistan, the Proteas should be confident against Sri Lanka, who have lost all five of their games in the tournament so far.
“As a team we just focus on ourselves. We don’t think about what the other teams are doing and we just try and make sure that we are ready,” said Khaka.
“Every team wants to win every game and we think we are good enough to beat Sri Lanka, but we have to be at our best.”
The Proteas’ only loss so far in the competition has come against tournament hosts England, in a record-breaking match that saw the most runs ever scored over the course of a women’s 50-over match.
This after 678 runs were scored in total, with England amassing 373/6 in their 50 overs while the Proteas could only reply with 305/9 in their 50.
“For us we knew the bowling didn’t do it, but the batting did, so we as bowlers realised we didn’t do well and worked hard to bounce back,” said Khaka.
And bounce back they did as they thumped India by 115 runs in their last outing.
In the match the Proteas scored 273/9 on the back of Lizelle Lee’s cracking 65-ball 92, with the bowlers then restricting India to 158 all out, with Khaka claiming 2/33 in 10 impressive overs.
“To beat India was a great performance. We have been playing them a lot this year and it stood out for me as we had only beaten them once before and I think this has been our best performance so far,” said Khaka.
With the four teams above the Proteas all playing each other today, Australia against India and England against New Zealand, a win over Sri Lanka could see the Proteas move up into the top three on the log ahead of the final round of pool matches.
Today’s match against Sri Lanka will be live on SuperSport 2 from 11am and live scoring will be available on Cricket South Africa’s social media platforms.