Wicketkeeper-batter Sinalo Jafta expects South Africa’s game-changers to step up against England in their Women’s World Cup semifinal in Guwahati on Wednesday (11.30am).
After some encouraging results where they picked up five wins in a row over New Zealand, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Proteas slipped to 97 all out on Saturday against Australia, who won by seven wickets to finish top of the table.
The win saw the Aussies book a spot in the other semifinal against India in Navi Mumbai on Thursday.
For the South Africans, the defeat resurrected the nightmare of their opening round capitulation to England, during which they were dismissed for 69.
Jafta said the team had felt the pain against Australia.
“To lose like that does hurt,” Jafta said post-match. “If it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t mean anything.
“For us, it’s a time to just reflect. These are great opportunities to actually get better.
“We’re always chasing that 1% as a team. We’re facing England [next]; We played them in the first game and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted. But I think going into that match, we know exactly what to do.
“We’ve prepped. No game like this makes us a bad squad. It’s just to literally hone in together. The culture has been brilliant. So, we’ve got that bouncebackability.
“We’ve proved it before, so what’s stopping us from doing it again?”
Jafta said the Proteas’ big guns will need to be up for the occasion to bounce straight back in the do-or-die affair against England.
“There’s nothing better than a playoff game. I think for us as a team it is to just assess the conditions. We’ve been to Guwahati before and it’s just about going out there and expressing.
“We’ve seen positive cricket, we’ve got game winners. Anyone on any given day can put up their hands. Against England, it’s a good time for that to happen”.
One facet that will need scrutiny is the ease with which Aussie leg-spinner Alana King sliced through South Africa’s batting line-up, taking seven wickets for 18 runs.
“Alana is a really intelligent bowler. I think she knew exactly where to land the ball. Kudos to her — she bowled fantastically well.
“I think if we just go forward, play straight, we should be good.
“A lot of times we played with a cross-bat and we’ve seen it in these conditions, it doesn’t work. Now, going into the playoffs, we must have a clear mind of what we need to do.”
The game had been in the balance when King was handed the ball, but from 43 for two, South Africa slid to 97 all out. Her first four wickets came before conceding a run.
“I expected it to slide on a little bit with a bit of the drizzle. I was just happy to extract as much as I could out of the wicket,” King said.
The Herald
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