JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s Chloe Tryon says this Women’s T20 World Cup feels different to any other as the Proteas continue their run towards the knockout stages against Thailand, in Canberra, on Friday.
Tryon’s side are yet to achieve their potential at the tournament, with a solitary semi-final defeat to England in 2014 the only time they’ve progressed beyond the group phase.
With the inspirational leadership of Dane van Niekerk and all-round brilliance of Marizanne Kapp yielding a seminal six-wicket win over their bogey side (England), Tryon believes the path to glory has been cleared.
“We’ve evolved as a team in the past few years and managed to get past England by having good plans,” said the all-rounder.
“We feel well prepared for this tournament and it was great to start the tournament with a win.
“This year feels different. After the T20 World Cup in 2018, there was a lot of reflection and we felt as a batting unit we weren’t doing what we needed to do.
“We reflected a lot individually and knew what we had to change. We’ve worked hard in the off-season and playing in the Women’s Big Bash League has really helped some of the squad.
“We have a responsibility now and it only takes one game at a time to get where we want to go.”
Tryon is one of the fiercest six-hitters in the game and became the first and only player to take a wicket with her first ball in the Women’s T20 World Cup against West Indies in 2010.
The all-rounder didn’t come off in the England triumph, managing only 12 runs from as many balls, but will be fancied to get back among the runs against Thailand at high-scoring Manuka Oval.
Tournament debutants Thailand fell to the heaviest defeat in Women’s T20 World Cup history on Wednesday, succumbing to a 98-run loss to England and suffering at the hands of Heather Knight who made 108.
One bright spark came in dismissing both England openers for ducks, with leg-spinner Nattaya Boochatham beating Amy Jones' bat and having her stumped in the game's opening over.
Boochatham feels the defeat gave her emerging side a reality check and immediate improvements are necessary to avoid further humblings.
“We’re obviously very disappointed in our performance, we felt we could have done a lot better,” said the Thai vice-captain.
“We were very excited to get the chance to play against one of the world’s best teams but going into the South Africa game, we need to execute our plans more consistently and be more clinical on the field.
“We’ve been exposed at this level. If we don’t get it right, we overcook things and we’re punished for it. It’s a matter of working out the situation and changing our plans.
“South Africa seem like the team with the best form in the group. Their batting unit is really aggressive, so we have to keep it tight and as we saw against England, anything loose will go for runs.”