Proteas women break half-a-billion Indian hearts 0
Winning a series against India, not just because they are a country of half-a-billion women but also because they are one of cricket’s superpowers, especially on their home turf is a magnificent effort and South African batter Lara Goodall was quite right when she called it a “statement win” after the Proteas clinched a 3-1 series triumph with a game to spare with their seven-wicket win in Lucknow on Sunday.
To clinch victory, South Africa had to mount their highest ever successful run-chase – a daunting 267 was their target – and they did it style with eight balls to spare as the top four of Lizelle Lee (69), Laura Wolvaardt (53), Goodall (59*) and Mignon du Preez (61) all scored half-centuries.
The 24-year-old Goodall, who only returned to the Proteas team this year after being in the international wilderness following South Africa’s hammering on their last visit to India in October 2019, calmly steered them home in the company of veteran Marizanne Kapp (22*).
“It’s been nice to come here and make a statement because the last time we came to India we got clobbered a bit, so we had a point to prove. We knew it would not be easy, there was a lot of uncertainty, but we wanted to show that the batting unit has that belief and it was a massive chase against a world-class team. It showed we are a lot more mature in our game, especially the batting.
“It feels very good to be there at the end with Marizanne, to get us over the line after grafting so hard. We have a world-class opening partnership that we can always rely on with Lizelle and Laura, but we haven’t always backed them up. But the entire top four scoring fifties just shows all the talent and experience that is there. The batting really came to the party today,” Goodall said.
This was no mundane triumph and no-one would blame the Proteas for celebrating into Monday, especially since the fifth and final ODI is only on Wednesday.
“We’re definitely going to enjoy this one and we owe the win to the backing of the coaches and to ourselves for what happened last time we were here and we were down and out. Personally it put me out of the international game for a while, but I worked very hard in Lockdown. Two years ago I wasn’t sure how to play spin, what my options were.
“But having been a bit half-hearted about it, I looked at myself deeply and I knew I had to improve a lot if I wanted to have a regular place in this team. I want to keep my spot in the middle-order and it just required a mental shift. I’ve always had the shots and the ability, but there was some sort of disconnect whenever I had to go out into the middle,” Goodall admitted.