Proteas need to fire on all cylinders to overcome bullish England in semi-final

Amy Jones of England during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup match between England and Pakistan at Newlands Cricket Ground on 21 February, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

By Keanan Hemmonsbey

23 Feb 2023

Proteas Women are one victory away from reaching their first-ever World Cup final.

When South Africa take on England on Friday it will be the second consecutive occasion the country has played in a T20 World Cup semi-final — following 2020 in Australia.

They have also made the final four of the previous two 50-over iterations of the global tournament.

But on all three previous occasions, they have faltered at the semi-final hurdle. In order for this time to be different — at home at Newlands Stadium — the Proteas Women will have to be sublime in every facet of their game.

As expected, the Proteas’ bowlers have been in exceptional form throughout the tournament and are a big reason the team progressed to the knockout phase — by having a superior net run rate to New Zealand and Sri Lanka who also accumulated four points in the group stage.

The main quartet of bowlers – Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Shabnim Ismail and Nonkululeko Mlaba — have all gone for under six runs to the over in the World Cup so far.

Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa during of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup match between South Africa and New Zealand at Boland Park on 13 February, 2023 in Paarl, South Africa. (Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images)

Kapp is currently the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with seven scalps and Mlaba has picked up five.

They have restricted teams excellently with the pick of the performances bowling New Zealand out for 67-runs in a must-win match in Paarl.

South Africa will need to maintain the disciplined standards they have set in the tournament against a formidable England batting lineup.

Middle-order batter Natalie Sciver-Brunt is currently the leading run-scorer in the tournament with 176 runs in four innings. But the whole batting order is lethal.

They displayed their full potential against Pakistan in their final group game where they smacked the highest-ever Women’s T20 World Cup score of 213 in their 20 overs.

Stuttering batting

While South Africa’s bowling has been sublime, the batting and fielding have been patchy.

“We’re going to have to play a very good game of cricket [Against England]. There’s no denying that they’re a very strong side, [with a] very explosive batting lineup,” said Laura Wolvaardt after the Proteas’ win over Bangladesh.

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“We’re going to have to put up a lot of runs if we want to stand a chance of getting them.”

In the Proteas’ opening match against Sri Lanka, they failed to chase 129 — a par first innings score. None of the South African batters scored more than 30 runs and the batters in the top three all struck at under a run a ball.

In South Africa’s final — must-win — group stage match against Bangladesh, the team dropped two straight-forward catches and conceded several unnecessary overthrows.

They still managed to restrict the Tigers to 113, thanks mainly to masterful bowling, but they could have had Bangladesh out for under 100 with more accurate fielding.

Against better opposition, like England, those extra few runs will be vital.

The top-order batting finally came together against the Tigers with openers Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits sharing an unbeaten 117-run partnership. In the process, both women scored the country’s first half-centuries of the tournament.

“Our bowlers have been brilliant. I don’t think we’ve had to chase more than 130 once. But our batting unit still hasn't fired quite as yet,” said Wolvaardt.

“Overall, we’ve lost a lot of wickets and patches. It was nice to get a win and for Taz [Brits] and I to get some runs and some confidence, hopefully. But we’re still looking to get better with the bat.”

English threats

Scoring rapidly against England won’t be a walk in the park. Their spin trio of Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn and Charlie Dean have been in supreme form this tournament, spinning webs around their opposition.

The threatening trio have 19 wickets between them this World Cup with World No 1 bowler, Ecclestone top of the tree with eight scalps.

On the batting front, England have several players that can clear the boundary with ease. They have hit more sixes than any other team in the World Cup with 12.

Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt and Amy Jones have been England’s most threatening batters so far while Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey and Heather Knight have not found their best form yet but are big-match players.

Captain Knight recently described Sciver-Brunt as the best player in the world and after her unbeaten 81 off 40 deliveries against Pakistan in England’s final group match, it’s hard to argue against it.

England are undefeated in the tournament thus far while South Africa have fallen twice already. For England, the mantra will be to keep on doing what has worked so far according to Sciver-Brunt.

“[To keep doing] much of the same that we’ve been doing so far,” she told the media on Tuesday.

“We want to be able to put them under pressure when we’re batting and really focus on taking wickets as much as we can with the ball and I guess trying to be calm and be adaptable in that. A team can always come at us and it’s how we react to that.”

South Africa will need to put pressure on England with the bat and in the field, as well as with the usually reliable ball, if they stand any chance of making their first-ever World Cup final. DM

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