South African women shift focus to crucial Windies clash
LEICESTER: THE Proteas may have beaten the West Indies in an ICC Women’s World Cup warm-up match but that victory means nothing if they cannot do it again today, according to senior batter Mignon du Preez.
South Africa celebrated a thrilling three-wicket victory over Pakistan in Game One but their match against New Zealand in Derby was washed out.
They now head to Leicester to take on the West Indies, looking for win number two in the ICC WWC.
West Indies were brushed aside by the South Africans during the warm-ups, getting bowled out for 63 and losing by six wickets.
But Du Preez, who made 30 runs against Pakistan, admitted South Africa will not underestimate their opponents.
“The washout happened, it’s done and dusted so now we are just focused on the West Indies game,” said Du Preez.
“We played quite well against them in the warm-ups but unfortunately that game didn’t count! Anything can happen and they are a very strong team, who compete hard and are hoping to make it all the way.
“They’ve been in a final before, so we won’t take them lightly. We’ve had a few days to go back to the drawing board, do our preparation and focus.
“The warm-up win over them gives us some momentum because you’ve played against the girls, you’ve seen what they can do and proved you can beat them.
“But as the game is growing, most games are either streamed or televised, so there’s a lot more footage of the matches and teams do prepare better than in the past.
“This game is the one that matters, so we need to make sure we rock up,” added the former captain.
Meanwhile, West Indies bowler Anisa Mohammed is hoping her side can score more runs and secure their first victory of the tournament.
The West Indies lost by seven wickets to India in Taunton and Mohammed has called on her batters to express themselves today.
“We need to score more runs if we want to win games in this tournament. We have some of the greatest players in the world, I think players just need to believe in themselves and believe that they can go out and do the job. As West Indians we like to express ourselves so we just need to go out and do just that,” said Mohammed.
“We have batters all the way down but it’s a matter of players getting in and staying in, valuing their wickets. We need to relax and keep believing in ourselves. We need to find a way somehow to relax and recuperate and believe we are great players.
“I keep saying to the team that people think we are a great T20 team but this is the same team that helped us qualify automatically for this World Cup so we can win 50-over games as well.
“So we need to keep believing in ourselves and go back to what worked for us over the last three or four years and pull everything together.” – icccricket.com SQUADS South Africa: Dane van Niekerk (capt), Trisha Chetty, Moseline Daniels, Nadine de Klerk, Mignon du Preez, Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Andrie Steyn, Chloe Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt West Indies: Stafanie Taylor (capt), Merissa Aguilleira, Reniece Boyce, Shamilia Connell, Shanel Daley, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Qiana Joseph, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Akeira Peters, Shakera Selman, Felicia Walters
“Toby Roland-jones is a player we have been monitoring for quite some time and deserves his chance. He came close last year when he was named in the Test squad against Pakistan in July,” Whitaker added.
“Toby has been in good form this campaign and his ability to seam the ball along with the fact that he can score useful runs down the order gives us a number of options.”
Ballance’s recall means Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed also misses out, despite shining during the first three Tests in India last year.
Since returning from the hand injury that ruled him out of the fourth Test of that series, Hameed has struggled for runs in the County Championship.
Meanwhile, Root has admitted he is not a natural leader but England’s new Test captain says the time spent as Cook’s understudy has groomed him for the responsibility.
The elegant right-hander has established himself as one of the premier batsmen of his generation across all formats, putting him among such luminaries as India’s Virat Kohli and New Zealander Kane Williamson.
“I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a natural leader but becoming more senior within the side and being vice-captain over the last few years will definitely help in that respect, and I tend to lead with a good deal of instinct and I think that’s one of my strengths. – Reuters