East London: Ahead of the start of the women’s T20I tri-series, South Africa skipper Sune Luss said her team is aware of the combinations which India can field against them at Buffalo Park Stadium Thursday night.
In the tri-series running till February 2, the 2016 T20 World Cup champion West Indies is the third team in the series, South Africa last played against India in the shortest format of the game in March 2021, where they recorded a famous 2-1 series win away from home in Lucknow.
That series victory helped the Proteas improve their win ratio to 33% against India, with four wins in 13 matches that also includes a no result. Cut to now, and with the Women’s T20 World Cup starting next month, South Africa are keen to finetune their preparations for the mega event starting from the tri-series opener against India.
“We’ve seen the Indian team and we have played against them a lot. They’ve played against England and Australia recently, so we know what to expect, we know all the combinations that they can possibly throw at us. We are just excited to kick off the tri-series and get the games underway,” she said.
Head coach Hilton Moreeng believes the Proteas, despite the retirements of Lizelle Lee and Mignon du Preez apart from Dane van Niekerk not included due to fitness issues, are headed in the right direction ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup.
“For us as a team, the build-up has been very good. It’s been a while since we’ve been working, and the team and the squad has been gelling very nicely over the last couple of days. The good thing is we’ve been here before and we could acclimatize and even see what the conditions offer. Where we are now, the combinations have been coming off well.”
“As a squad, we are in a very positive mood, every player knows where they fit in and it is just for us to know when the opportunity comes as the games come thick and fast, that we can make sure that every member of the squad can get an opportunity in the middle to ensure that come to the World Cup, everyone has enough game time. We are heading in the right direction,” he added.
IANS
