SA women face tough test against New Zealand

NEW Zealand‚ South Africa will not need reminding‚ are the only team besides England and Australia to have won the women’s World Cup.

And South Africa will not need reminding that New Zealand’s women made their highest total in the tournament’s history when they beat Pakistan in Leicester, England, on Sunday.

All of which will be in the mix in Derby today‚ when South Africa take on the Kiwi women.

Dane van Niekerk’s team overcame three runouts to get past Pakistan’s 206/8, with three wickets standing.

“Seeing the lower order perform against Pakistan‚ we haven’t really done that in a while but we have spoken about it a lot‚” Van Niekerk said in Derby yesterday.

“It gives the batting lineup a lot of confidence knowing that we have got capable batters at the bottom to finish games.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to use them too often, but it is good [for] momentum.” Or‚ as she might have said‚ a win is a win. But the South Africans were 113 without loss, before seven wickets crashed for 64 runs, to make the contest too close for comfort.

New Zealand‚ the 2000 champions, had no such drama in their tournament opener against Sri Lanka‚ winning by nine wickets, with 12.2 overs to spare.

But Sri Lanka are the weakest team in the field‚ so South Africa should present the Kiwis with a stiffer test today.

And there is a chance New Zealand will be distracted by the fuss over their captain‚ Suzie Bates‚ bringing up a century of one-day internationals.

“I never thought I’d play this long‚” Bates said. “I was at university and cricket was a bit of a hobby.

“I really didn’t see it going professional. So to still be playing at 29‚ and be able to play in my 100th game‚ is exciting.

“When I first started and got really serious about trying to be as serious as I can be‚ and when I started leading the team‚ I probably didn’t have a lot of things outside of cricket.

“When it didn’t go well‚ it was terrible. When it did‚ you were on top of the world.”

Women’s cricket had come a long way, the Kiwi skipper said.

“It’s unrecognisable from when I started. It was a hobby for everyone. “Many were studying‚ some were at school. “People got away from their day jobs for tours and to live a dream,” Bates said.

Time to wake up – the dream is real.