OBAKENG MELETSE
A solid start with the ball, backed up by fielding of the highest quality, got the Proteas Women into a strong position in the first One-Day International against India last Sunday.
But a failure to keep the Indians on the ropes and pounce on the advantage early in the series means the next two fixtures – today and Sunday – will be must-win encounters.
The Proteas Women’s shaky start to their tour of India has left them with a mountain to climb.
Just as with the protea flower, they will need a lot of fire within them to make a comeback in the series.
The South Africans will have it all to do when they come up against India for the second ODI at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Their heavy 143-run loss last Sunday at the same venue didn’t only fall short of the allotted 50-over mark, but the biggest question they have to answer heading into the next match is batting against a spin-dominated attack after their failure in the first match.
This could be an area that could easily dominate the rest of their tour if it is not addressed immediately.
South Africa lost a total of seven wickets to spin, and their inability to rotate strike prevented them from building any batting momentum.
All-rounder Nadine de Klerk thought that the Proteas fielding effort to restrict India to 265-8 was a decent effort, but they lost the match through a combination of good bowling from the opposition and the lack of batting partnerships from South Africa, who were bowled out for just 122 in the 38th over.
“We didn’t get enough runs on the board with the bat. Their spinners bowled really well, and we just couldn’t get going,” De Klerk told the media this week.
Post match thoughts with Dercksen 💭
— Proteas Women (@ProteasWomenCSA) June 17, 2024
Annerie Dercksen made her ODI debut for the Proteas Women in yesterday’s clash against India. 🇿🇦🇮🇳
She shares her thoughts on the special moment with us.#AlwaysRising #WozaNawe
BePartOfIt #SAWvINDW pic.twitter.com/2RdgTwED2u
“So, I would say it was just a poor batting performance. Losing three wickets in the powerplay placed a lot of pressure on the middle-order.
“It looked like a slow wicket from the start. It didn’t look easier when they were batting as well.
“We probably expected for it to play a bit better under lights. I do think it became hard with their spinners – they got quite a bit of turn, especially Asha (Sobhana), who bowled really well on that wicket.
“I wouldn’t say drastically, but I just think we didn’t apply ourselves the way we wanted to. But I guess we could take a lot of learnings, especially from Smriti (Mandhana) and how she went about her business.”
India will host the 50-over World Cup in 2025, and South Africa are currently ranked third, one point behind England in the ICC Women’s Championship.
“When you play International cricket, there is always a bit of pressure, especially if you come to India and play them in their backyard,” De Klerk said.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge, more so with the World Cup being in their country.
“We all know how important it is to qualify for the World Cup directly... You do not want to go through qualifiers.
“We only have one or two series left after this to qualify directly, so this is a massive series for us.
“And for those points in preparation for the World Cup, the main goal will be to get a win tomorrow, and go in to a decider in the last game and try to win the series.”