SA women wink at warm-up game loss

The Proteas women’s side were on the receiving end of a 46-run defeat to Australia in their final Women’s World T20 warm-up game in Guyana on Tuesday‚ but all-rounder Sune Luus was still full of optimism.

Australia’s 130/4 looked a reachable total but SA could manage only 84/9, with Luus making 11 from 22 balls, while Chloe Tryon top-scored with 14 from 10.

The Proteas Women will be in action on Tuesday morning SA time when they face Sri Lanka at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St Lucia.

Luus said they believed they could still win the tournament.

“Without a doubt‚ we can still win this tournament.

“We’ve seen with our bowling that we can restrict any team to a reasonable total‚” Luus said.

“If the batters come to the party‚ then that shouldn’t be a problem.

“It’s not going to be easy, but the Sri Lanka game should be a good game.

“We’ve got the firepower and the experience and if we come to the party‚ we should be OK.”

SA bowled well to limit Australia to what was an achievable total.

SA had them under pressure at 38/4 after 11 overs, but Meg Lanning’s unbeaten 65 proved to be the difference between the sides.

Luus said SA were good in the field and their support bowling was also working.

“We have our ups and downs with the fielding, but I think in the Australia game it was a really good day for us‚” she said.

“Also the bowling is one of our best areas and I’m glad to see that everyone is pulling her weight with the bowling.

“We had a problem in the past where the bowlers couldn’t always sustain the pressure that the opening bowlers put up.

“It’s something that really worked in this game.”