Having spent some time together ahead of their departure on Monday, captain Laura Wolvaardt said the Proteas team were in a good space in the build-up to the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Over the last week, the national squad had a team building session, followed by a two-day training camp at Wits University.
They were now set to spend some time at a pre-tournament camp in Arundel, England which included three training games against Australia to be played between 31 May and 4 June.
“We first got together for team building (last week). We spent some time together away in the bush, did some activities together and also had some really productive chats, talking about how we’re going to go about the next few weeks,” Wolvaardt said.
“I feel like it’s really good to all be on the same page and it feels like we’re all heading towards a common goal and we’re really together in what we’re trying to do.
“And the last two days we’ve just been training a bit, breaking it down into specifics, and we’ll have a few more training days when we get over there, so it’s starting to feel real and we’re very excited.”
Sharpening up against Australia
While they had some official warm-up matches scheduled after their camp in Arundel, Wolvaardt said they were pleased to have an opportunity to play a few training games against Australia, who were drawn in the same group as South Africa at the global showpiece.
Ranked fifth in the world, the SA team were aiming to lift their first World Cup trophy (after reaching the finals at the last two editions of the T20 spectacle), and Wolvaardt was looking forward to sharpening up against top-ranked Australia who were looking to secure the T20 title for the seventh time.
“Australia are probably known to be the best side in the world for the last few years, so I think any chance we get to test ourselves against them is valuable,” said the Proteas skipper.
“And these are warm-up games, so we’ll be able to try a couple of different things and test out a few combinations before the actual World Cup starts.”
The T20 Women’s World Cup, hosted by England and Wales, starts on 12 June, and the Proteas play their first game against Australia in Manchester on 13 June.
