SA’s next goal at the Women’s World Cup is to create silence.
Their first two matches have taken place in sparsely populated venues, with the tournament failing to garner enthusiasm, other than when the two host nations have been in action.
Thursday’s clash with India in Visakhapatnam will take place in an atmosphere which will be a stark contrast to the sedate surroundings and empty seats which greeted the Proteas in Guwahati and Indore.
The Indian team entered this tournament carrying the weight of their nation on their shoulders, with expectations heightened thanks to the large investment in the sport in that country, most notably the establishment of the Women’s Premier League.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s team have started solidly, beating co-hosts Sri Lanka and bitter rivals Pakistan, but there is anticipation of a much harder battle against the Proteas.
SA bounced back superbly after an embarrassing defeat in their opening match, overwhelming New Zealand on Monday, and in India close attention was paid not just to the outcome but the manner in which it was achieved.
SA showed improvement in all areas and entered Thursday’s match confident of building on the momentum they created against the Kiwis.
“It’s going to be really important for us to rock up here, hit our straps and try to put them on the back foot as soon as possible,” Proteas all-rounder Nadine de Klerk said.
“When you bowl first, you want to strike early; you want to put teams on the back foot, and when you bat first, you want to kind of combat that, so you don’t want to lose two or three wickets in the power play.”
De Klerk made important contributions against New Zealand, picking up the wicket of Amelia Kerr, while her ground fielding helped set the tone for one of SA’s best performances in that department for many years.
With the bat, she has been pushed to No 8, while Sinalo Jafta has moved to No 6, a surprising move, but one which SA will probably stick with on Thursday given the reasonable job the wicketkeeper/batter did in the first two matches.
“My role has been pretty clear,” De Klerk said. “It’s kind of to come in at the back end and finish games off.
“I think this World Cup might look a bit different. It looks like the wickets aren’t the easiest to bat on.
“So, I think coming in a bit later, it’s still about finishing games off, but it might not be the same role in terms of trying to strike at a high rate and putting teams under pressure.”
Struggle for batters, spinners dominant
While the expectation had been for high totals during the tournament, the opening rounds have proved to be a struggle for batters, with the spinners dominant.
Australia have made the competition’s highest total — 326 against New Zealand — but it took a majestic century from Ashleigh Gardner to rescue them from a tricky position to reach that.
“I think it’s more about the tail-enders adapting to the conditions and building a partnership with whoever’s in there and trying to take games deep,” De Klerk said.
“It’s not necessarily been about making 300-plus scores, so I guess it’s about just scraping all the runs you can and getting to a competitive total.”
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