FILE - Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt was happy with the way her team bounced back against Scotland in the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup. FILE - Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt was happy with the way her team bounced back against Scotland in the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup. Picture: Marco Longari / AFP
Captain Laura Wolvaardt says the Proteas Women adopted a “ruthless” mindset in the win over Scotland to get their ICC T20 Women’s World Cup campaign in the United Arab Emirates back on track.
After losing to England on Monday, the Proteas hit back with a thumping 80-run victory over the Scots in their Group B match in Dubai on Wednesday.
If all goes according to plan, the Proteas can book a place in the semi-finals with a win over Bangladesh in their final group match in Dubai on Saturday.
The Proteas played with a lot more intent with the bat than they did in their 10-wicket win over the West Indies and in the defeat against England, where they seemed a bit hesitant to go at the opposition bowlers.
They then showed the same intensity with the ball to hammer the Scots and put themselves in a great position to make the playoffs.
The wickets keep falling 😏![CDATA[]]>🔥
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What a catch from Sune Luus 🧨
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"You can't ask for much more, it was an excellent all-round performance," Wolvaardt said after the match.
"We had a great first half and followed it up with some very tight bowling. We spoke about it [net-run rate] coming into this game. It was a tough one at the toss - when you are chasing, you can go a bit harder if you know that's a factor.
"We just felt the best chance to win the game was to put a lot of runs on the board and restrict them. After that powerplay, we were definitely looking at 160 or 170."
“We wanted to be ruthless and show what we are about and kill it off the way we did.”
The Proteas will be watching England and the West Indies’ next two matches with great interest. England still have to play Scotland and the West Indies face Bangladesh on Thursday.
England and the West Indies then play each other on Tuesday in a match that can decide the Proteas’ semi-final fate.
However, the South Africans can make things easy for themselves if they can produce another dominant performance against Bangladesh on Saturday.
"[It's a] massive game for us, we need a win," said Wolvaardt.
"This [win over Scotland] will give us a lot of confidence, and hopefully, we can hit the ground running for that game."
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