Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Proteas looking to regain their confidence
SOUTH Africa will not let up on the intensity in their dead-rubber Women’s World Cup clash against India in Christchurch on Sunday, according to star all-rounder Marizanne Kapp.
The Proteas have already qualified for next week’s semi-finals after their previous game against the West Indies was washed out, handing Sune Luus’s side the point they needed to reach the knockout stages.
India, meanwhile, have no such comforts as the 2017 runners-up require a victory over the Proteas to advance to the play-offs.
A strong argument could be made that South Africa should take the opportunity to rest a couple of players, particularly among the seamers with Shabnim Ismail having earlier suffered a toe injury, Masabata Klaas a shoulder ailment and the general workload that Kapp has had to bear at this World Cup, ahead of next week’s do-or-die clash.
Kapp, though, believes it’s crucial that South Africa regain the confidence they built up at the start of the tournament when the Proteas won four matches on the bounce.
“I don’t think there’ll be too many changes or anything along that line because I believe momentum is really big moving into the last stages of the competition,” Kapp said.
“You would like to probably have your players that’s going to play in the semi-finals wait out and have a ball, have people fresh, but I think if you’re going to ask our bowlers if they would like to rest, they’ll probably tell you no. I don’t know personally what’s going to happen, what selection is going to look like, but I believe we’ll still go in with our strongest 11.”
It will be South Africa’s first visit to the Hagley Oval, which will also host the second semi-final on Thursday and the showpiece final next Sunday.
The Proteas batting unit will particularly want to acclimatise themselves to the pitch and conditions with a couple of individual batters looking to find some form against India (start 3am SA time).
The No 3 position is a well-documented problem for the Proteas with Tazmin Brits failing again on her return to the side against the Windies.
The spotlight is also on seniors such as Lizelle Lee and Mignon du Preez to find their rhythm. Du Preez, at least, appeared to be striking the ball sweetly again before the rain halted proceedings in Wellington.
Lee, however, has looked a shadow of the batter who was named ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2021 for her outstanding feats at the top of the order.
Perhaps facing the opposition she feasted on last season when the powerful opener struck 288 runs at an average of 144, including a career best 132 not out, will light Lee’s fire.
“We know that here and there we have struggled a bit with batting this tournament, but we only have three matches left, so what we need is for three or four of our strongest players to stand up in those matches, and that can change things significantly for us,” Kapp said.
“We have one match left against India. We want to end well. We still have a few issues we want to work on, but we are looking forward to our last game against India, and after the match our focus will shift to the semi-final, and also see who we will play against.”