Lee blitzes Thai bowlers

Own Correspondent

Lizelle Lee (above) says she’s got her groove back after her towering ton set up South Africa’s comprehensive victory over Thailand at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

Lee reached her maiden T20I century in 59 balls and helped the Proteas break the record for the tournament’s highest total, scoring 195/3.

One of the game’s most devastating hitters, the 27-yearold snapped a streak of nine matches without a short-form half-century in style and feels back in peak form.

“Things haven’t gone my way since the New Zealand tour, so it was just good to get some runs on the board and get that confidence back,” said Lee.

“Sune and I didn’t have a good powerplay, we were a few runs down and we decided we had to get to 100 by the 13th over. We kept to the plan and it paid off to accelerate from that moment on.

“It’s two different things, batting in the nets and out in the middle. I was hitting the ball well out in the nets, it just didn’t come off in the middle. That does make your confidence dip.

“I think every batter needs a little bit of confidence, you can’t go out there not having any. If it’s your day, you have to go out and cash in and I was pleased to do that for the team.”

Thailand chopped and changed their attack, using seven different bowlers in the first half of the innings, but couldn’t prevent Lee from bringing up the Women’s T20 World Cup’s fifth century.

Just as Nannapat Khoncharoenkai did in the opening game against West Indies, a lone hand came from Onnicha Kamchomphu whose 26 stood alone in a total of 82 all out.

With three heavy defeats from their first three games at Women’s T20 World Cup level, rank minnows Thailand have a final opportunity to record a maiden win against Pakistan when they meet on Tuesday.