‘SA CAN GO FAR IN WOMEN’S WORLD CUP’
Veteran wicket-keeper Chetty confident her team’s ready
TRISHA Chetty believes the Momentum Proteas have got what it takes to go far in this year’s ICC Women’s World Cup in England. Speaking after the team’s first practice in Oakham, in the East Midlands, since their arrival in the United Kingdom yesterday, the veteran wicket-keeper/batter said: “[England is] not an easy place to play.
“We need to adjust to the conditions as quickly as possible because the teams that qualify for the semis [will] be the ones who do that successfully,” she said.
As one of the most capped players in the team, Chetty has seen her fair share of cricket since she made her debut in 2007 against Pakistan in Pretoria.
Since then, she has collected a wealth of experience in her 10 years of playing for the national team.
She has also taken part in international women’s leagues like the Australia Women’s Big Bash.
“I’m very excited to be playing for South Africa still after all these years,” she said.
“This will be my third 50-over World Cup and the feeling of being selected for such a big occasion doesn’t change.
“I just want to do my absolute best and represent us well and help the new girls as much as possible.”
With 91 One-Day Internationals under her belt, and a fair amount of experience of what conditions in the United Kingdom should play like, she believes the team has played well in recent months.
They just needed to play their brand of cricket consistently to achieve their desired result.
“We’ve played some really good cricket in the last few months, but we lacked that consistency that can take us from being a side with a lot of potential to being a serious contender in world cricket,” Chetty said.
“We are definitely looking to correct that.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on this.
“Now is going to be the time we show what we’ve learnt.”
Observing the youngsters navigate their way at yesterday’s practice gave her encouragement ahead of their first warm-up match against Australia today.
“The youngsters struggled a bit at first during practice [yesterday].
“It was clear that they found the conditions a bit challenging.
“But it was really good to see them come into their own by the session’s end,” she said.
“The seniors were all there to talk to them and help out.
“Everyone looked really good at the end of the day.”
South Africa’s first official match of the tournament will be against Pakistan on Sunday.
They play two warm-up matches, the first against Australia today and the second against West Indies on Thursday.