Consistency key for SA

National women’s cricket coach Hilton Moreeng (above) has given his side strict instructions that if they are having a bad day at the World Cup in England then they have to ensure it is not so terrible as to cause them to lose the match.

In other words, consistency will be the key word when the World Cup starts next Saturday.

“The big concern is our consistency, but it has improved, as we saw in the quadrangular series recently in which some youngsters came through. Previously, one minute we would be scoring 280 and the next we’d be 150 all out. So when we have a bad day, we want to make sure we still get 180-200, which you can defend.

“The middle-order especially has to tighten up, but we have the experience there now, a handful of our players have played in lots of World Cups. I’m very happy and very confident, purely because of the talent we have and because the core of the team has been together for eight years now. So it’s time to put the performances together and make sure we peak at the right time,” Moreeng said ahead of the team’s departure for England yesterday.

Moreeng is also confident that there will be no drop in performance when the pressure is on.

“We made sure we’ve addressed the mental side, we brought a psychologist in. Because of the pressures, the World Cup is not easy – every game is tough. But they have that ability to raise their intensity. It’s about identifying the key moments, and the senior players must drive that, they need to put up their hands,” Moreeng said.

A change in the tournament’s format sees South Africa play all seven other nations before the semifinals for the top four on July 18 and 20. Dane van Niekerk’s team start their campaign against Pakistan at Grace Road in Leicester next Sunday.