Proteas Women in a great space
MOREENG: EXUDES OPTIMISM AHEAD OF OZ ODI SERIES
On the back of a closely contested T20 International (T20I) series against Australia, Proteas Women head coach Hilton Moreeng shared his thoughts on the out-bound tour against the reigning T20 and 50-over world champions.
Despite the 2-1 T20I series defeat, Moreeng exuded optimism and pride in the team’s performance ahead of the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) taking place between 3 and 10 February in Adelaide and Sydney.
“For us, the way we started the T20I series, we feel a bit disappointed in our changing room because we felt we’ve done enough to have had the results.
“But it’s one of those that you know you’re playing against a quality team, in their own conditions, where they play very well.
“They have a lot of match winners in the team and so do we, so we felt that on the day, they were on the better side when it came to the key moments in the game,” the head coach commented.
“Overall, there’s been very good moments in the last three games. The players have gone out there, very competitive, put their best foot forward and stayed competitive.
“We can see the growth from the team – the way we’re playing – it’s a team that is just on the up. We take a lot of learnings from that going into the next series.
“We’re very happy with what we’ve seen regarding the performance but not the end result,” he added.
The coach highlighted the significance of beating Australia for the first time in the team’s history during the second T20I where the Proteas secured an emphatic five-wicket victory led by Laura Wolvaardt with 58 not out off 53 balls (six 4’s). Moreeng described it as the realization of the team’s hard work and dedication.
“We’ve had a couple of close games in the past, where at times we dominated the game and then we lost the game in key moments.
“We started to identify and work on a plan on how to get that right and at the end of the day when you get the result that you’ve been working hard to get, against the best side in the world, you realise it’s about how we put it all together and make sure we can be consistent.
“It’s been a great challenge for us as a team and to be able to achieve that, to level the series and come close again in the last game.
“It shows you that this is the level that we’re at as a team.”