Winning is the priority, says skipper Wolvaardt

Zaahier Adams

Proteas Women's captain Laura Wolvaardt prides herself on perfection and she is hoping for an all-round improvement from her team when they face Scotland in a must-win ICC T20 Women's World Cup clash in Dubai today.

Wolvaardt always wants to lead from the front, whether it's with bat or on the field, and the skipper was visibly disappointed with the two tough chances she let slip through her fingers during the seven-wicket defeat to England in Sharjah on Monday.

There was a further missed opportunity with Anneke Bosch putting down a straight forward chance at point. Wolvaardt has now called on her team to lift their standards in the field, starting with herself against the T20 World Cup debutants.

“Obviously, the dropped chances are crucial,” the skipper said.

“Two of them coming from me, which is not ideal. I think in these competitions the best fielding side obviously has a great chance of making it very far and it's definitely something that we'll have to look at.

“It's not like we didn't practice, so it's just very frustrating when it happens in the game.”

Due to the England defeat, the Proteas now have little room to manoeuvre in if they are to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals for a third consecutive time. The West Indies, who still have to play Group B leaders England, have now edged the Proteas out of second spot due to a superior net run-rate.

With Scotland making their first appearance at the ICC T20 Women's World Cup, and having already lost both their matches to Bangladesh and the Windies, the Proteas are the heavy favourites today.

However, they may also have to win by a large margin in order to boost their NRR. Wolvaardt, though, does not want her team to lose focus from securing their primary objective.

“It's not like England completely outplayed us,” said Wolvaardt.

“I feel like if we took our chances, ran a bit better in the middle, rotated better, we could have had a good chance of winning that game. The team talk is that we’ve still got two very important games. I think if we win them well, we still have a big chance of making the semis.

“Net run-rate might be a message that will come up if we're chasing in the final two games but winning is the priority for the next two.”

The quick turnaround with just 48 hours between games means the Proteas will need to adjust their mindset very quickly if they are to get their T20 World Cup campaign back on track.

Wolvaardt believes the change of venue with the Proteas returning to Dubai, where they trounced the Windies by 10 wickets, from Sharjah will work in their favour.

“Dubai played a bit better, I feel. This (Sharjah) felt a bit too paced and it felt like they bowled real straight, set straight fields and it was just hard to score and hard to get it away.

“The outfield here was also very, very slow so you don't really get value for runs. I feel like it was a bit better at Dubai getting value for your shots.”

Proteas Women Squad

Laura Wolvaardt (Captain), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Suné Luus, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Seshnie Naidu, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloé Tryon