Annoyed Proteas aim to bounce back against inexperienced Scots

Proteas all-rounder Nadine de Klerk said she and her teammates need to be better in the field if they want top progress from the group stages at the T20 World Cup.
Proteas all-rounder Nadine de Klerk said she and her teammates need to be better in the field if they want top progress from the group stages at the T20 World Cup.
Image: Francois Nel/Getty Images

Laura Wolvaardt wore a face like thunder at the end, Nadine de Klerk admitted “frustration” about the outcome and the Proteas generally were left to lament an error-strewn performance in their biggest group game of the World Cup. 

“It’s not like they completely outplayed us,” Wolvaardt said of England, who beat her team by seven wickets on Monday night. 

Based on the skipper’s tone and that of De Klerk, who furiously beat the turf on a few occasions in Sharjah, Scotland might cop a backlash on Wednesday. 

“We are very confident, though after the defeat it does make it two must-win games,” De Klerk said of the Proteas’ remaining group fixtures. 

Monday's clash was a tough fight decided by fine margins. Both teams dropped catches, though the opportunities that came SA’s way were slightly easier than those missed by England, while batting was difficult for both teams. With the ball, England were better than the Proteas. 

That was probably the result of having played at Sharjah a few days earlier, where the pace of the pitch is slower than in Dubai and the outfield is sluggish too, not giving batters value for shots, as Wolvaardt explained.

South Africa will be pleased their remaining matches are in Dubai, where they performed so impressively in defeating the West Indies last Friday. 

“Dubai played better. This [pitch] felt two-paced. It was hard to score and hard to get the ball away,” said Wolvaardt. “They set straight fields — the outfield was also very slow. In Dubai you get better value for shots.”

England’s four spinners adjusted better to the conditions than the three used by the Proteas, with Wolvaardt saying the lines from Sophie Eccelstone in particular were better than what SA’s spinners were able to produce. 

It is increasingly apparent spin will be decisive in the tournament, though De Klerk said the Proteas will continue to rely on the seamers.

“We are one of the few teams who have more seamers than spinners,” she said. “The other teams do bowl a lot of spin, but we bowl 12 to 14 overs of seam even in spin-friendly conditions.”

It means players like her, Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka need to use lots of slower balls to rein in opposing batters. But given how the new ball has swung, it also presents the Proteas with opportunities to strike inside the power play. 

The two areas Wolvaardt will want to see improve are the accuracy and consistency from the spinners and her team’s fielding. “Our spinners could have bowled slower and more into the wicket,” she said of the performance on Monday. 

“There wasn’t much time available to put in another fielding practice on Tuesday, with players and coaches more intent on recovery during the short turnaround before the Scotland game. Nevertheless, it will be one of the main topics of conversations in team meetings.”

De Klerk added: “You don’t want to be dropping big players. We need to make sure we are clinical in every game if we want to reach the semis and finals. Fielding is one of the areas we can be better at.”


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