SA and New Zealand will aim to overcome crushing defeats in their Women’s ODI World Cup openers when they go head to head at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Monday (11.30am).
The Proteas were rolled for 69 in the first game of the tournament against England, who went on to record a 10-wicket drubbing over Laura Wolvaardt’s team, while New Zealand suffered a demoralising 89-run loss to their traditional rivals Australia.
“As a group we just need to put it behind us as quickly as we can and move forward, because if we’re going to take that into the next game, it’s going to be a very long tournament for us,” Wolvaardt said.
“That’s obviously not the way we would have liked to have started. Every one of us knows that we are much better than 69 all out. I think we individually want to score more than 69. So, it’s just a day that we need to forget as quickly.”
Luckily for Wolvaardt, there is a short turnaround between matches, so they have not had much time to mope about after the embarrassment of Friday. There are eight nations at this World Cup, and each team plays seven matches. That leaves half a dozen fixtures to get back on track.
“That’s the one nice thing, knowing we still have six other games to play. There’s still a lot of time to rectify it. Obviously, you want to start the tournament with a win. It’s never nice losing your first game. Moving forward as quickly as we can onto that New Zealand game is what we’re going to have to do,” she said.
It is obvious the batting needs much improvement against New Zealand to be competitive, and Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits, Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp need to contribute more with the bat. As the senior player of the group, Kapp will want to lead from the front with bat and ball as SA attempt to climb the log table from last position.
The squads are:
SA: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Sune Luus, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Karabo Meso.
NZ: Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis, Bella James, Melie Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer, Lea Tahuhu.
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