Captain Suné Luus believes South Africa will have to play with an element of bravado if they are to record their maiden T20 International victory over Australia in the all-important ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 Group 1 clash at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Saturday.
Ahead of the Proteas’ eighth Women’s T20 World Cup campaign, skipper Luus faced the members of the media, sharing her eagerness ahead of the first ball as the team look to better their semi-final appearances achieved in 2014 and 2020.
“It’s quite massive. I don’t think we quite realize what we already achieved without playing a game,” the captain began. “It’s going to be awesome tomorrow, just seeing everyone coming out. Apart from the cricket and apart from being successful and winning games, there’s a responsibility of inspiring a nation and inspiring young girls to get out of their comfort zone and to imagine a career where they can do anything. That’s one of our biggest roles as a team.
“ We would like to play, not just winning games, but also inspiring a nation, to give them that opportunity to know that they can be anything they want,” the all-rounder added.
In the build-up to the World Cup, South Africa recorded a confidence-boosting victory in the T20 International Tri-Series against India and the West Indies in East London, before the team completed their preparations with enticing warm-up fixtures against England and Pakistan. When asked about the importance of the warm-up encounters.
Luus said: “The results showed a loss (England won by 17 runs) and a win (South Africa won by six wickets), but I think both games for us was a win. England posted a mammoth total and we only lost by 17 runs, which I take as a big stride in our team.
“Our bating has come a long way, scoring 229 (against England). That was massive, our biggest score yet and that’s really cool to see, going into this T20 World Cup, what we can actually do and pushing into those 160s and 170s,” she continued.
As the hosts, South Africa have been drawn into Group A alongside Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh along with the defending champions and five-time winners, Australia. Following the first match-up against Sri Lanka in Cape Town, the Proteas will then turn their attention to crucial contests with New Zealand (Paarl) and Australia (Gqeberha) before wrapping up the round-robin stage against Bangladesh back in Cape Town, where all the knockout matches will be held.
Looking ahead to the approach team South Africa will undertake throughout the tournament, starting off with the Sri Lanka tie, Luus pinpointed the significance of taking each game as it comes. “I don’t think we need to be thinking too far ahead. Our game plan has always been just to focus on the game that we have coming up and not to think too far ahead. Otherwise, you’ll get out of the moment and not focus on what you need to do.
“In terms of Sri Lanka, we know they are a sub-continent team and they’re going to throw a lot of spin overs at us, so that’s something we need to address, and we are also very well prepared for.
“They also have a well-balanced side with some strong hitters and some players that just knock it around, taking those ones and twos, so it’s going to be a well-balanced game and we need to try and be at our best,” the skipper added.
