Proteas need to be consistent
TOP-ORDER NEEDS TO FIRE IN CARIBBEAN
The last time the Proteas women participated in an ICC event, it all came together beautifully for them as they pushed hosts and eventual champions England all the way in their 50over World Cup semifinal, and captain Dane van Niekerk is looking for her team to click in the same manner as they head for the West Indies and the ICC World T20 tournament.
The tournament starts on November 9 and South Africa will play in Group A in St Lucia against defending champions West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and qualifiers Bangladesh.
“We did really well in the ODI World Cup last year when it all came together and I’ve said hundreds of times that we can beat anyone on our day. But consistency has been our downfall recently and all three aspects of the game need to click, hopefully that will happen again now.
“I do believe we have the best bowling team in the tournament, especially with Shabnim Ismail back, bringing a lot of experience with Marizanne Kapp. But our batting has been a bit erratic and our top-order needs to fire. On our last few tours only a couple of us have rocked up at a time, and we need four or five to do that now,” Van Niekerk said yesterday at OR Tambo International Airport ahead of their departure.
With much of their attention on their games against the powerhouse West Indies and English teams, there is a tendency to forget about Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but with conditions in the Caribbean favouring the subcontinental sides, the Proteas will be approaching those games with caution as well.
“T20 brings all the teams closer together and we won’t take anyone lightly. One of the Sri Lankans scored 170 against Australia recently, so they have world-class players and Bangladesh will find conditions suiting them as well. We will never underestimate any team,” Van Niekerk said.
“We’ve drawn a lot of confidence from the World Cup in England, but there are 10 teams going to the West Indies and they’re all going with one intent. It will come down to whoever does the basics better and we know what our strengths are and what we have to do,” coach Hilton Moreeng added.