SA come short, but still positive
WE HAVE THE BEST BOWLING ATTACK IN THE WORLD Proteas to take on England in semifinal in Bristol tomorrow.
Proteas bowler Suné Luus chooses to look at the positives from their defeat against Australia in Taunton on Saturday. She believes that, even though the team fell 59 runs short, the match went a long way in identifying areas the team need to work on before they face England in the semifinals of the ICC Women’s World Cup in Bristol tomorrow.
I think we had a great start with the ball,” she said. “Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail started very well but we just let it slip in the middle overs. The way we brought it back when it looked as though they would reach 300 or 320 was good as well.
“From a batting point of view, I think that although we lost Lizelle Lee early, the way Trisha Chetty and Laura Wolvaardt went about the first 20 to 25 overs was brilliant.”
The 21-year-old took 5/67 against the defending champions, but she wants to do better.
“It’s always nice to take a fivefor, but if the team doesn’t win, it’s not really as exciting as it should be,” she continued.
It is only the second time ever that South Africa have qualified for the semifinal stage of the Women’s World Cup. The last time they achieved this was 17 years ago, in 2000.
Luus hopes that this will be the year that the team can make history and reach the final, but in order for this to happen she believes that a more comprehensive performance is needed in all three disciplines of the game.
“All the team needs to work together as a unit,” she elaborated. “The bowlers need to bowl the middle overs as well as they do the first few and the last few overs of the match, the batswomen must not lose early wickets up front and wickets in clusters in the middle period. We need to also be really sharp when we field.”
That being said, Luus is very proud of the team and their achievements so far. She admits that they have done a lot of things well during the competition and the side’s growth over the last few years could only culminate in this milestone.
“Our bowling attack has been very good in this tournament,” she continued. “With the exception of the game against England, I think we have shown that we do have the best bowling attack in the world.”