Proteas’ progress to semifinals boosted

With the West Indies losing to Pakistan, and England brushing aside Thailand on Wednesday‚ SA’s job of progressing to the Women’s T20 World Cup semis has become slightly easier.

They still have to beat Thailand at the Manuka Oval on Friday‚ and Proteas all-rounder Marizanne Kapp is not taking the Asian team lightly. As outgunned as they have been in their big losses to the West Indies and England‚ they have batted out their full 20 overs.

Kapp said Thailand cannot be taken lightly and the Proteas need to get over their opening game win against the powerful England side. “They look like quite a good team on the field and they have a lot of spinners. You can’t take any team lightly in this World Cup‚ so we have to start over again‚” Kapp said.

“Hopefully‚ we can keep on improving in every game and reach the semis. I’m not the biggest fan of this wicket. It’s flat but I hope our batters can enjoy it.”

Kapp’s 33-ball 38 played a central role in SA’s successful chase of 124 against England in Perth on Sunday. Her six fours did not allow England to settle and made sure there was a constant transference of pressure.

Kapp said the England win more than made up for their disappointing series against New Zealand.

“It was a massive win for us. We wanted to start the tournament well and I’m pretty proud of the girls. We didn’t have the best of T20 series in New Zealand and to come back and play the way we did in our opening World Cup game was amazing‚” Kapp said.

“Everything worked out for us. We didn’t put one catch down. Our ground fielding worked out for us. The bowling plans and the fields we set were good. Everything worked out and we hope for the rest of the tournament we can improve on what’s been working.”

Kapp hoped the squad would remain fully fit for the remainder of the tournament.

After Friday’s engagement with Thailand‚ they have Sydney showdowns with Pakistan (March 1) and the West Indies (March 3). Should they win both‚ they will earn a spot in one of the March 5 semifinals in Sydney.

“It’s good to have our strongest team here. It’s been a while since we’ve had a fully fit team and it’s showed in the previous games in terms of the fields we had and the bowlers’ plans‚” Kapp said.

EVERYTHING

WORKED OUT AND

WE HOPE FOR THE

REST OF THE

TOURNAMENT WE

CAN IMPROVE ON

WHAT’S BEEN

WORKING Marizanne Kapp Proteas all-rounder

Marizanne Kapp