Proteas women all-rounder Nadine de Klerk believes the team will bounce back from a heavy opening Women’s T20 World Cup loss against Australia, in their second match of the tournament against Pakistan in Birmingham on Wednesday.
The Aussies completely outplayed the Proteas after scoring 172/8 batting first, and then bowling them out for just 107, as they clinched a comfortable 65-run win.
It put the South Africans in a dangerous position early on in the ‘group of death’ which included favourites Australia and 50-over champions India, as well as tricky sides Pakistan and Bangladesh.
It was thus vital that the Proteas responded well from their big loss, as they did in last year’s 50-over World Cup, when they were crushed by England in their first match but went on to reach the final.
“We obviously knew when we came over here that we have quite a tough pool. But I think we’ve played some really good cricket over the last couple of years, and we’re really confident,” said De Klerk.
“It’s not ideal to start with a loss like this, but there’s no reason why we can’t bounce back. We’ve played a lot against Pakistan over the last couple of years. I feel like that’s the team that we’ve played the most.
“We’ve shown it in the last couple of World Cups, we maybe haven’t started as well, but we found a way to make it to the final.”
Spin heavy attack
Where the Proteas suffered the most against the Aussies was with their spin attack, with them picking four frontline spinners for the match, and they were expecting a similar challenge from Pakistan.
“I think again it’s going to be spin-heavy. I still feel we’re a pretty good batting unit, and I think we’re very good against spin. It obviously didn’t quite work out (against Australia), but yeah, it’s a really exciting opportunity for us (against Pakistan),” said De Klerk.
“We’re obviously going to bounce back from this loss, and we’re going to take the learnings and come back strong and be really positive against Pakistan.”
De Klerk put in a decent all-round showing against the Aussies, taking 2/35 and scoring 25, but she will possibly need to come to terms with a new role after she was pushed up the batting order and came it at number four.
“I’m not sure why I’m there. It is a bit strange and something that I haven’t done a lot of in the past,” said De Klerk about coming in early.
“Initially I was a little nervous. I haven’t batted there in a long time, as I’m always slotting in with the lower order, and my job has been kind of to finish games. So it was a bit of a surprise, to be honest.
“But like I said, I actually really enjoyed today. I batted at four in the warm-up game, and I actually really enjoy a little bit more time out there. It’s a team sport at the end of the day, and whatever the team needs of you, you try and put your best foot forward.”
The Proteas and Pakistan go head-to-head in their group one match at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Wednesday night (7.30pm start).
