Ken Borland

The Proteas Women’s team will be after quicker batting in order to stay alive in the three-match series when they tackle England again in the second ODI in Bristol on Friday.

Having won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening match in Northampton earlier this week, South Africa struggled up front in the face of some outstanding quick bowling by the veteran Katherine Brunt (9-1-18-3). After 30 overs the Proteas had posted just 109/5 and it was only thanks to Chloe Tryon (88 off 73) and Nadine de Klerk (38 off 53) that they managed to eventually reach 218.

No-one in the top-five batted with a strike-rate higher than 67, compared to England’s blazing batting which saw them chase down the target inside 33 overs. Emma Lamb scored a 91-ball century and Nat Sciver blasted 55 off 36 balls to show South Africa a more appropriate approach.

“It was definitely not our best performance, far off it,” De Klerk admitted on Thursday. “We all know we can play much better than that and we need to play positive cricket.

“We lacked intensity and we need to back ourselves. I definitely think we’ll put up a better game in the second ODI, we’re going to show a lot more aggression with the bat, take the bowlers on a bit more.

“We’ve been training the way we want to play and it’s gone very well. We’ve been trying out different options. We also didn’t have the best day with the ball, but England came out at a blistering pace.

“We need to think out the box more, but all credit to England for batting really well,” the 22-year-old De Klerk said.

The all-rounder has been one of the fringe players in the Proteas squad since making her debut in May 2017, but with the absence of Dane van Niekerk and others, De Klerk has been a regular starter since the start of last year.

“It’s all about waiting for our opportunity and whenever you get the chance, you must make the best of it,” she said. “We get a lot of support from everyone and it’s just about working hard behind the scenes.

“I think everybody – including Shabnim Ismail – is good to go for the match and I think it’s going to be a really good pitch and a quick outfield.

“So we want to have a lot of fun, back ourselves and keep it simple. We’ll be going out to play nice, aggressive, positive cricket,” De Klerk said.

Vice-captain Chloe Tryon admitted that the Proteas Women left a few runs out on the park when both batting and bowling in their 15-run defeat at the hands of England A in a T20 warm-up match in Cardiff on Monday night.

England A won the toss and batted first, and managed to recover from 23/2 after four overs to post a highly-competitive 155/5 in their 20 overs. Alice Capsey (32 off 19) and Maia Bouchier (49 off 42) added 52 for the second wicket off 36 balls to put the home side back on track. Bouchier and Bess Heath (43 off 36) then finished the innings superbly, adding 79 in 9.2 overs to give England A a total they could be well-pleased with.

Seamers Nadine de Klerk (4-0-20-1) and Tumi Sekhukhune (4-0-26-1) were the most impressive of the South African bowlers.

The Proteas batting took a while to get going and they were 32/3 in the seventh over. Laura Wolvaardt (32 off 34) and Sune Luus (45 off 34) provided some much-needed acceleration, but Tryon was still left with too much to do at the back end, finishing with 21 not out off 18 balls as South Africa closed on 140/6.

“It was disappointing to fall 15 runs short,” Tryon said. “We bowled well in patches, but we could have pulled them back more, we let them get away at the end because we did not bowl well in stages.

“But we should have been able to find those extra runs somewhere, on that pitch we could have scored 20 runs more.” Tryon conceded.

The Proteas batting up front got clogged up like the aorta of a diabetic, obese smoker, and they will be eager to find a way to free themselves up in another warm-up game against England A, this time over 50 overs, in Cheltenham on Thursday.

It is their last chance to get fit and firing ahead of the ODI series against the powerhouse England side that starts in Northampton next Monday.

Following their historic one-off Test against England, the Proteas Women now begin their preparations for the ODI and T20 series that will be played over the next two weeks, and will be looking to marry the batting basics they showed in the longer format with the more dashing strokeplay required against the white ball.

Star batter Laura Wolvaardt is probably not alone in being quite pleased to return to what she is more used to facing.

“The red ball was very tough to face, it was quite a challenge up front,” Wolvaardt said. “And there were some very tough conditions to deal with too, plus the Duke ball does a lot more than we’re used to.

“So I had to concentrate on leaving a lot of balls, which I’m not used to, especially since so much of my game is about cover-drives and going after wide balls. So it was quite a mental challenge as well.

“Test batting is all about technique and getting in strong positions, and the basics stay the same, so it’s good I’ve done that work ahead of the white-ball games and hopefully my timing will be there.

“It also helps having faced their bowlers in tough situations, and hopefully the white ball doesn’t do as much. But the ODIs are a format we enjoy and we’re very good at it,” Wolvaardt said.

The South African bowlers have also borne a heavy burden, but the chance to avenge their semi-final loss to England in the World Cup at the end of March is no doubt going to motivate and energise the squad.

“It was a big effort from our bowlers. Marizanne Kapp scored an incredible 150 and then bowled 16 overs the next day, and Nadine de Klerk bowled 23 overs in one day.

“But we are all very excited for the white-ball series. We’ve had a mixed bag of results against England recently: we won the first game against them at the World Cup but then we were very disappointed to lose the semi-final.

“Hopefully we can get a bit of payback for the semi-final. It feels like a long time ago, but it was still this year that it happened,” Wolvaardt said.

The first ODI in the three-match series will be played next Monday in Northampton.

South Africa’s tour to Ireland next month will see the Proteas Women’s team herald the arrival of a new face in international cricket in Western Province all-rounder Delmi Tucker.

Tucker is the only new cap in the 15-strong squad that will play three T20s and three ODIs in Dublin. There are four other changes to the squad that reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in New Zealand in March, with wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta, all-rounder Marizanne Kapp, opening batter Lizelle Lee and seamer Masabata Klaas all unavailable for medical reasons. Veteran batter Mignon du Preez retired after the World Cup and also needed to be replaced.

The introduction of Tucker to the Proteas team is clearly exciting for convenor of selectors Clinton du Preez.

“Delmi Tucker has been rewarded off the back of a very successful domestic season and has really made positive strides with significant contributions, and we are looking forward to seeing her transition into the international arena,” Du Preez said.

Tucker, who was educated at Hoërskool Menlo Park, the same school as captain Sune Luus, averaged 40 with the bat to help guide Western Province to second place in the Women’s Provincial One-Day Top 6 during the 2021/22 domestic season, including three half-centuries. She averaged 64.50 as WP were crowned the Women’s Provincial T20 champions. With the ball, off-spinner Tucker picked up 14 wickets in 10 games in the 50-over competition.

Apart from the 24-year-old Tucker, the other players brought into the squad are spinner Raisibe Ntozakhe, all-rounder Nadine de Klerk and batters Andrie Steyn and Anneke Bosch.

Regular captain Dane van Niekerk is continuing her rehabilitation from a fractured ankle and has returned to individual training.

“The selection approach has been very clear and is set out to balance both the preparations towards the T20 Commonwealth Games and the T20 World Cup. With the latter a few months away, coupled with the ODI games that commences the ICC Women’s Championships ranking points, a blend of players who can excel and add value to both formats were selected and to allow for rotation,” Du Preez added.

Proteas squad: Anneke Bosch (NW), Tazmin Brits (NW), Trisha Chetty (KZN Coastal), Nadine de Klerk (WP), Lara Goodall (WP), Shabnim Ismail (KZN Coastal), Ayabonga Khaka (CGL), Sune Luus (Northerns), Nonkululeko Mlaba (KZN Coastal), Raisibe Ntozakhe (CGL), Tumi Sekhukhune (CGL), Andrie Steyn (WP), Chloe Tryon (KZN Coastal), Delmi Tucker (WP), Laura Wolvaardt (WP).