In the build-up to the Women’s T20 World Cup to be played in England in June, seam bowler Tumi Sekhukhune says it is important for the Proteas to take an unassailable lead on Wednesday in their series against India, not only to build confidence but also to give them a chance to experiment more in their remaining fixtures.
The SA squad were crushed 4-1 in the five-match T20 series and 2-1 in the three-match ODI campaign on their tour of New Zealand which concluded earlier this month.
Bouncing back, however, they won the opening two games of their five-match T20 series in Durban last week against higher-ranked India.
And if they could secure another win at the Wanderers on Wednesday night (6pm start) they were set to wrap up the series victory with two games to spare.
“I think it’s very important for us to go 3-0 up because we’re preparing for the World Cup and we want to take that momentum into the tournament,” Sekhukhune said yesterday.
“We’re also trying to do things differently and see if they work, with different combinations… and I think those are the things we are working towards going into the World Cup.”
Staying positive
While they were still focused on raising their game ahead of the global showpiece, Sekhukhune said a change of mindset had helped them recover from their tour of New Zealand.
Against the White Ferns, the players had struggled to keep their heads up after slipping in various aspects (particularly with their fielding) and Sekhukhune said they had spoken about staying positive ahead of the home tour against India.
“In New Zealand when you got hit (as a bowler) you would automatically put your head down, and I think now what we’re looking to do is, even if you get hit, or things didn’t go well, just have the same energy with the team backing you up, giving you high fives or patting you on the back. That actually works,” she said.
“I think we’ve been a pretty decent fielding team in the last couple of years and I think we’ve got a lot of things we can work towards, but we’ve never had a tour like New Zealand, so we want to leave all of that behind and move forward in terms of what we can do better.”
