The South African women’s team’s inconsistent batting continues to hamper their development and remains an area of the game that needs improving if they are to challenge for global titles.
South Africa lost a seven-match series 5-2 against New Zealand, with coach Hilton Moreeng bemoaning the inconsistent batting that has been a blight on the team over the last few years.
“We have put in the work on (the batting) front. We’ve had experts come in to speak the players; we’ve addressed all the issues as best as we can. The players know where the problems are, they’ve worked hard on trying to solve them, but it’s clear that consistency with the bat remains an issue,” Moreeng said yesterday.
A stand out statistic is the number of fifties scored by each team; New Zealand’s players scored nine, South Africa’s three - two of those by Mignon du Preez. “That tells a story,” Moreeng said.
“We addressed the issues in our winter camp. We went to Ireland and we played well, but in this series we were unable to turn those twenties and thirties into eighties or hundreds. When we did, we were better placed to win games.”
Du Preez’s 80 in the second match was South Africa’s highest score in the series, helping to post the team’s best total of the series. “One of the positives that emerged from the series was that we bowled well. An example is the first match (where New Zealand successfully defended 127), but it was also an example of our biggest problem in that we couldn’t chase it successfully,” said Moreeng.
Du Preez’s series aggregate of 232 runs was the best among any of the South African players and along with skipper Dane van Niekerk was the only home player with an aggregate of over 150 runs. “There is no doubting the talent in the group, but we have to put our hands up and understand we are not doing well enough,” said Moreeng.
“We have the best group of players, and they will be going to Australia, but perhaps after that the selectors will look at expanding and including more players.”
South Africa next head to Australia to face the current world champions in a five-match ODI series. “There is pressure on the whole squad, all of us, this series loss, 5-2, the nature of it, is a bitter pill to swallow,” a disappointed Moreeng remarked.
“The good thing is that over there the conditions are similar, we need to adapt as quickly as possible. We know the mistakes we made, we know the lessons we must take away from this series (against New Zealand) and it is about us knowing what we have to implement when we get over there,” said Moreeng.
South Africa head to Australia on November 7.
The Star