The margin for error at the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will be minute, says Proteas coach Hilton Moreeng.
The Proteas are building steadily for their opening game against England on Sunday in Perth with a couple of good performances in their last two warm-up games. They beat Sri Lanka over the weekend and pushed defending champions Australia to the last over on Tuesday.
South Africa are in Group B where along with the England opener they also face Thailand, Pakistan and former T20 world champions West Indies. It certainly is a tough prospect to qualify from there for the knockout stages as any slip up will be severely punished.
“World Cup games are never easy. We know its going to be a tough tournament. Each and every country is there to win and going to come hard at you. We focused on eradicating our mistakes because if you do that at the World Cup, it is going to cost you,” Moreeng said.
“We only have four games at the World Cup, so basically each match is like a semi-final because you have to make sure that you are still in the competition the next game.”
Moreeng, though, believes that if the Proteas remain disciplined and focus on their own plans and preparation everything will go according to plan. Often the downfall of the Proteas Women’s team has been the tendency to focus on the opposition instead of the process.
“A massive thing for us is our plans. When we back plans and execute we are a tough team to play against. Hopefully the preparation we’ve put in will pay off,” he said.
“For us it is encouraging to see the disciplines that we are doing at the moment. We have played a few different teams in the build-up to the World Cup. We played New Zealand, then Sri Lanka who has a different style and now Australia who are a lot like England. They are an aggressive team that bats deep.”
The bowling unit will once again be the Proteas’ greatest strength at the T20 World Cup. The fast bowling unit will be led by the experienced Marizanne Kapp, Shabnim Ismail and Ayabonga Khaka, while there are quality spin options in captain Dane van Niekerk and Sune Luus.
The Australian conditions where the surfaces are hard and fast should to be to the liking of Kapp and Ismail especially. However, it the batting unit’s most recent displays where they have consistently hovered around the 150-run mark that has Moreeng excited.
“We are happy to see how the batting has gone. We are putting together partnerships. We didn’t finish well in the last six overs. Losing wickets in clusters and we fell 20/30 runs short. But we learn from that,” he said.
PROTEAS ICC T20 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP FIXTURES
Sunday, 23 February 2020
vs England, WACA Ground, Perth
Friday, 28 February 2020
vs Thailand, Manuka Oval, Canberra
Sunday, 1 March 2020
vs Pakistan, Sydney Showgrounds Stadium, Sydney
Tuesday, 3 March 2020
vs West Indies, Sydney Showgrounds Stadium, Sydney
Proteas ICC Women’s T20 squad:
Dane van Niekerk (captain), Laura Wolvaardt, Lizelle Lee, Mignon du Preez, Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Chloe Tryon, Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Tumi Sekhukhune, Trisha Chetty, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Nadine de Klerk, Nondumiso Shangase.